Dunlop, Jane Frances ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4350-5381 (2025) Rubber Ducks: oceans and art, algorithms and capitalist networks. In: Performance Studies International (PSI #30): "XXX – Cruzo, Cruising, Crossroads", 11th - 15th December, 2025, Fortaleza, Brazil.

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Abstract

The rubber duck floats at the crossroads of global trade, nostalgia, ecological disaster, and contemporary visual culture. This paper will explore the rubber duck as it cruises divergent cultural, economic, and environmental currents: I will focus on the rubber duck in artworks such as John Akomfrah’s Listen All Night to the Rain and the massive floating sculptures of Florentijn Hofman, thinking these representations alongside and into the real world rubber ducks such as those found in train station gift shops, the displaced ducks of the 1992 Friendly Floatees spill and the ducks found on programmers’ desk as they ‘rubberduck’ software problems. The aim is to trace the rubber duck’s conceptual journey through algorithms, oceans, global trade networks and its entanglement with environmental crises. The rubber duck as both icon and object demonstrate the drift of meaning that characterises 21st century iconography, as cultural objects cruise through diverse spheres—from mass consumer goods to critical art—without retaining stable significance. At these crossroads, the rubber duck reflects both the pervasive forces of late-stage capitalism and the possibilities for critical engagement with those forces.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	rubber ducks, visual arts, John Akomfrah
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general T Technology > T Technology (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > Centre for Sound and Image Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Design and Creative Industries
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2026 14:29
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/52654

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