Name: Eva Solo
Date: 25/09/19
Professor: Marcela Godoy
Art Installation:
As the aim of the installation was to raise awareness about plastic waste, the first thing we did was brainstorming the most eye-catching ways to draw attention to what seems to be most important to us. A common theme from our concerns surfaced, which was the amount of waste each one of our 外卖 orders produced post-meal. Drawing back from the Bag It documentary as well as the Trash Whale installation, we expressed empathy towards the animals that consume the trash we produce. The process of ideating new thoughts while looking at our collected assets narrowed our visual representation scheme to a dinner table fully decked out in trash.
The process of creating was my biggest take away from this installation, as we were able to discuss the relevant concepts about trash waste and visually express them on our dinner plate. A great suggestion to add informational quotations around the seating arrangement took our installation one step further in terms of sharing knowledge with out community. I was also very happy we were able to incorporate some Chinese puns, which not only is considerate of the community around but also introduces something light-hearted for the audience to consider. “我不吃 ’塑 ’ ” meaning – “I don’t eat ‘vegetarian/ or / plastic’ ” is a great example of the different type of audiences we wanted to attract, as on multiple occasions I have seen young children roaming our cafeteria spaces. Through this process I was able to reflect on myself and how I want to contribute to this society, even past my university experience, which was tremendously eye-opening in considering what type of projects I want to be apart of later in life.
While setting up the space in the Cafeteria, I was thinking over Richard’s talk and how little time and effort we collectively spend considering our consumption habits as a community. After the installation was properly titled, I decided to spend a few minutes in the cafeteria observing the circulation of people. From this evaluation, I noticed the effectiveness of the location where we decided to set up the Trash Meal. Even for those that didn’t come close enough to read the labels, the installation grabbed their eye focus – which is progress when considering the ignorance we cherish when it comes to Ecological concerns.
Reading Response:
- Collective Responsibility Shanghai’s Informal Waste Management Report
[Pages 1 -25]- Informal Trash Collecting has sparked my curiosity since the first day of our course, as I began transforming the way I view materials and their worth. While reading about Shanghai’s trash circulation I was noticing which aspects could be implemented in Lithuania’s infrastructure, as it is drastically smaller in scale. Lithuania has recently introduced recycling bins just like Shanghai, yet this effort is only encouraged, so considering a population with very little outside-the-boarder information flowing in – the situation is not great. I see similarities in the way these local community approach discarding trash, yet a huge difference in the way the trash is received, which I believe primarily comes from the misconception that trash is worthless. This reminds me of the couple that was able to put their daughter through university level education in China purely out of the finances of repurposing raw materials. Changing our collective approach to the value of materials should influence our consumption rates, as well as the routes we choose for our trash.
- Seeing Tricycle Collectors is a part of my daily routine while living in Shanghai, so it was very interesting to learn that these individuals are a strong back bone to the entirety of the operation. I am particularly interested how their daily work routine unfolds, and if it is drastically different from day to day. I am also interested in the challenges they face in relation to the transportation of the trash – which allowed me to get more specific in the topic of interest I am currently developing.
- Sustainability. MIT Press 2015. The Concepts of Sustainability
[Pages 38-56]- In The Concepts of Sustainability the idea of a ‘sustainable community’ was discussed, as well as a ‘sustainable city’ plan, which to me sounded like the appropriate step forward. I notice a lot of individual responsibility to be discarded as part of mob mentality, so ideas towards collective efforts sound like progress in the grand scheme. I was also able to evaluate how different regions of the world produce trash waste, especially urban areas, and consider
From a Conversation with Raw a Material Collector, 余:
As I already had a chance to introduce myself to 余, this time I brought one of my Chinese speaking friends to clarify some of the responses she was providing me. What I learnt was that she is selective in what type of trash she chooses to keep, and that being in change of your choices provides a lot of flexibility in a very a very unstable line of self-imployment.
Campus Trash Route:
For the Campus Trash Route, our group had a few phases of collaboration. First we all met and discussed our current perception of trash routes around the University. We shared what we most commonly observe. From there we each individually took time to explore the campus building and locate the trash bins, concluding with the B2 level where the trash is gathered from the bins.
Then I was very curious to investigate the bins in the corridors and how their content changed (if it changed) thought the levels of the buildings:
I noticed a significantly less amount of trash in the top floors, most likely due to less traffic in the upper floors – but the question I raised was: If the bins are still being cleared out every day, only if it only contains one banana peal, what about all of the plastic bags that are being wasted?
I traveled from the top to the bottom and not being a science related person myself, have never before visited the 7th floor before, which I spend some time on investigating. I was greeted with HAZARDOUS signs and warning and was able to locate specific bins or lab related discarding.
This was very interesting to take into consideration as this trash must be handled differently from the Residual or Household waste.
On the 4th floor, I was able to find a few binds that had different labelling on the side and the top view, which to a person wanting to discard their trash appropriately can seem very confusing, ultimately leading them to choose the big circle big that is ‘everything’.
From my observations on the 2nd floor cafe, when people approach the bins they seem to stop for a second and think where they should be placing their trash. It seemed obvious that easily distinguishable material (eg. food waste/ banana peal, finished apple or unstained plastic or paper) would almost always go in the correct bin, but when it came to the more complicated waste that potentially involved some plastic cover but also contained food – this from my observation always ended up the the round ‘everything’ bin. I spotted a few acquaintances doing this during my observation and went to ask them if they had considered taking the extra 5 seconds to toss the plastic 外卖 packaging in the plastic bin and the bones from their chicken order into the household waste, to which I got a response ‘are you an environmentalist now?’ (I giggle at that, and confidently said yes) and also ‘it’s just easier this way, I’m sure someone takes care of that anyway’. I am getting a strong sense of not having individual responsibility as human, and then I remembered I too shared this perspective before gaining the knowledge I further explore today about our planet and the human impact on it.
Another interesting innovation I spotted was the wire placed underneath the rain draining outside. This is a location where cigarette buds are often discarded, and this wire now allows for much quicker collection of this doing.
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