Material

Rust

By

Made in

Circular 255 Dye 55 Glaze 21 Pigment 53 Recycled 151 Regenerative 62 Vegan 102 Glass 7 Water 41

Rust
Rust
Rust
Rust

Photos: Ster Borgman

Greenhouse

Ster Borgman grew up in Aalsmeer, an area with many old greenhouses. Some of them are abandoned and overgrown, making us wonder what grows inside. Rust is a growing crystal that slowly overgrows. This greenhouse was reconstructed in the authentic form of Ster's grandfather’s greenhouse and for the construction, they used aged wooden bars from old Aalsmeer greenhouses. The glass came from the same old greenhouses, but it was melted in a glass oven. The artist developed a liquid glass pigment out of rust and melt it between the plates. Rust pretends not to move, but when you look away, it starts to drip, leak, and grow everywhere. If you leave a drop of the liquid rust pigment for a while, rusty crystals begin to grow. By recreating an old greenhouse and incorporating the rust in glass, the overgrowing quality of rust becomes visible. The shapes of rust, created by the heat in the oven, give each plate a different dynamic and liquid character. The greenhouse is not only an ode to the history of Aalsmeer, but it also has an element of criticism on the pollutive industrialisation of contemporary greenhouse agriculture and floriculture. Additionally, the overgrowing power of rust presents an image of transience. The audience is welcome to enter the greenhouse and walk inside this warm and light space to see the rust, captured in the glass.
The greenhouse is 3.80m long, 2.50m wide, and 2.70m high.

Making process

Ster makes the black and liquid rust pigment from old rusty pins, nails and screws. They leave the rusty items for a long time, sometimes years, in water. Then they melt the rusty-liquid between pairs of glass plates in a glass oven at around 800°C. As the glass melts together, it fixes the black rust, which begins to boil and drip. In the oven, the rust changes colour due to the heat - from black to various shades of terracotta.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.

Ingredients

Rust, water, glass