Plastic - a cheap, ubiquitous, petrochemical product heroically advanced modern society in the 20C at the price of the planet, the entire ecosystem, and human health of the 21C. Since the 1950s, plastic production has increased by 230 times, reaching a total volume equivalent to 25,000 Empire State Buildings, of which only 9% has been recycled. Every minute, two garbage truckloads of plastic enter the ocean, which will weigh more than all fish by 2050. What’s the alternative future? Using kitchen-produced bioplastics colored with the Japanese persimmon tannin, the work reconceptualizes plastic to be something of precious and beautiful. It is an attempt to emotionalize the idea of plastic to change the narrative of our modern convenience.
This video is part of the bioplastic installation exhibited at the Nakanojo Biennale 2023. The work questions the nature of materials in the context of the global plastic problem.
Various bioplastic products have been developed recent years, used as utensils and fashion items. Bioplastic as equally convenient and economical as petroleum-based plastic may be readily available in the near future, however, the environmental issues associated with plastic production requires the reduction of demand for plastic in the first place. But how can you give up the modern convenience? The work invites you to question our attitude toward the idea of "plastic." How would our perception towards the material change when it is made of love and labor, instead of being mass-produced, cheap and ubiquitous?
