All the Tyres from Iceland

Production:

Leoke Weldingworks (https://leokesweldingworks.com/)

Video credits: Leandra Hoffmann r3mediacontent (https://r3mediacontent.com/)

All the Tyres from Iceland is a sculptural artwork rooted in a compelling narrative of global trade, waste, and circular economies. This project reimagines used tyres—typically seen as waste—into striking installations that challenge perceptions of value and sustainability.  

At the heart of the story is GRANUBAND, a tyre recycling company based in the Port of Amsterdam, which imports tyres from across the globe, including every discarded tyre from Iceland. This large scale installation is built with borrowed tyres from GRANUBAND, revealing a closed-loop circular process of recycling and highlights the potential of waste transformation, reliant on the infrastructure of global shipping—a scale of operation impossible in landlocked regions.

The artwork interrupts this recycling process by temporarily borrowing tyres before they are broken down. From small tyres to colossal ones up to three metres in diameter, the project transforms them into monumental site-specific sculptures. These installations reconfigure the tyres without altering their material form. Each sculpture is titled by its “negative value,” emphasising the paradox of waste as a resource: the larger the piece, the lower the value.

Through its striking forms, the project explores themes of transportation, waste, and the economics of sustainability. At the same time, Michael Pinsky’s artistic research reveals the hidden social and cultural backdrop of Ports as trade routes, family traditions, a complex web of material flows into circular economy promises. We are invited to rethink of ‘value’ as it shifts between discard and new, negative and positive. The tyres, once enablers of movement, now symbolise global trade and the lifecycle of materials. Their circular shape becomes a poignant metaphor for circular economies, as their materiality shifts from their original form to shredded raw material then back to manufacturing chain as alternative products. By transforming waste into art, All the Tyres from Iceland provokes reflection on the systems we rely on and challenges us to reconsider what we discard.

‍Michael Pinsky (UK) is a British artist whose international projects challenge the status quo on climate change, urban design and societal wellbeing. He explores issues which shape and influence the use of our public realm to create ambitious and provocative installations in galleries and public spaces. His recent installation Pollution Pods is touring internationally and has been exhibited in Somerset House, London, COP 28, Dubai, COP 26, Glasgow; COP25, Madrid, Spain; UN Climate Change Summit, New York; Science Gallery Melbourne; Media City Plaza, Manchester; TED Annual Conference, Vancouver; Place des Nations, Geneva; Klimahaus, BremerHaven, Germany and STARMUS, Trondheim, Norway.

All The Tyres from Iceland is an artwork resulting from S+T+ARTS4Water II Artist Residency project co-funded by the European Commission under grant agreement number LC-02629312 and Port of Amsterdam. The project is realised with material contribution and logistic support of GRANUBAND. 

Residency Host: Waag Future Lab.
Exhibition partner: Stichting NDSM-werf

Production: 
Leoke Welding Works
Short film: Leandra Hoffmann r3mediadesign

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