Inner Tension is a machine that, through the automatic rotation of a polarizing filter, reveals and ampliyes through a physical phenomenon called “Photoelasticity” the internal tensions plastic, the same material that we use every day and which, every day, and after just a few hours, ends up in the garbage.

This instrument consists of an overhead projector with a rotating gear and a polarizing filter. The motor that moves the rotating mechanism is driven by the sound produced by the manipulation of the plastic.

The plastic composition that will be interpreted by the performer and ” filtered” by the mechanism, exhibits a collection of recycled material recovered from different places in Groningen such as markets and supermarkets where plastic is used in huge quantities to wrap or transport food but also objects in general. In most cases, this plastic is not separated and therefore recycled but is burned together with the rest of the waste.

The idea for this work is to make this waste visible and give it new life by transforming it. Transparent and harmless plastic as a quotidian material is revealed into tension, tears and cracks; making the spectator stop by its world, reflect about its origins and walk through the challenges that lie ahead.