This book brings together selected works from the project Notes on Hydraulic Fracturing which examines the unconventional extraction process as it gains purchase in the UK landscape. Documentation of exploratory sites and those earmarked for future drilling are intermittent with sculptural interventions and chemical experiments performed by Oates in which she applies fracking chemicals onto photographs of sites; these are then rephotographed 3 years later, magnified, as if under a microscope. Also punctuated throughout the book are 3 soil maps. These piece’s are constructed using soil and sand collected from exploratory sites around the UK. The material is arranged to mimic aerial view images of Pennsylvania where a huge fracking industry has taken hold over the past 25 years. So far, companies have been required to pay $6.1 million in fines for violating state environmental regulations. The 3 Risograph inserts include a Chemical Classification sheet, video stills of the performance Landslide 1, 2 + 3 which records the destruction of the soil maps, and an Index which gives insight to the processes and materials found at these highly contested sites.
Artist Book
Edition of 150
London, 2017
Paperback, staple-bound
36 pages
15 x 21 cm