Plastics Recycling Art Installation
In a systems class I took that considered both food systems and plastics systems, a group of two teammates and I designed an art installation. Representing a set of three giant recycling arrows, each one described something about the recycling process. One arrow, stained in motor oil, called out how much oil was used, on an annual basis, to create plastic. One stated that almost 80% of all plastics are not recycled, covered in a multitude of non-recyclable plastics, and a third stated the measly percentage of plastics that are recyclable (just 9% in the US), covered in a measly representation of recyclable plastics. The arrows were meant to surprise and confuse, with surprisingly similar containers on the recyclable and non-recyclable arrows, as well as jarring statistics.
For this project, I was primarity in charge of the design and fabrication of the giant wooden arrows and the adhesion of the plastics to the arrows. The arrows were fabricated out of 1/4" plywood, designed to be stable in their lying down position without wasting too much wood or too many wood screws in the fabrication process. The containers were largely screwed on, as we discovered that it was very difficult to find an adhesive that consistently binds wood to many different forms of plastic.
We also created and accompanying zine, with beautiful graphics and both helpful and technical information. My two project partners were largely in charge of these graphics, with one being very talented with layout and the other designing the cute characters. I was largely in charge of general page design and content creation, which was then tweaked by my project partners.