(NewsNation) — A red, white and blue quilt is floating on a pond in Iowa to raise awareness of the state’s water quality problems, combining art and activism.
“It’s in the Water” is an 18-by-18-foot “floating barn-quilt-inspired sculpture” that uses algae to help clean the water and was created as part of “Declarations,” Iowa’s public art exhibition for the nation’s 250th birthday, according to the exhibition’s website.
The quilt is made from “salvaged plastic shapes” with 5-gallon buckets serving as buoys to keep the installation afloat. The buckets contain “special algae bioreactors” invented by the artists that grow algae to remove excess nitrates in the pond and capture carbon, the website explains…