The Bartlett
Summer Show 2025
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Systems for the Handling of Aquatic Deaths

Project details

Programme
Year 3
Award
  • Bartlett School of Architecture Medal, BSc
  • Year 3 Design and Creative Practice Prize

This project explores the disconnect between everyday waste and the ecological harm our ignorance to it causes, using fish deaths from water contamination as a site of confrontation. Through a two-part system, ritual care at the river and a surreal memorial embedded in public toilets, it reimagines how we respond to nonhuman death. By merging post-mortem practice with infrastructure, the work invites users to come into physical, ethical contact with the bodies affected by their waste, proposing a speculative framework for mourning, respect, and responsibility.

The washing device is dipped into the water to retrieve the dead fish.

Dead Fish Retrieval

The washing device is dipped into the water to retrieve the dead fish.

Skin and head are extracted from the fish on-site before being stitched up and buried

Performing Extraction

Skin and head are extracted from the fish on-site before being stitched up and buried

Cast of the retrieved fish’s head hangs in the toilet

Fish Head Freshener

Cast of the retrieved fish’s head hangs in the toilet

A toilet brush is covered in the retrieved fish’s skin

Fish Skin Toilet Brush

A toilet brush is covered in the retrieved fish’s skin

A covering made from the retrieved fish’s skin and fin is placed over the flush handle

Fish Skin Handle

A covering made from the retrieved fish’s skin and fin is placed over the flush handle

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The Bartlett
Summer Show 2025
26 June – 13 July
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