The American pavilion recovers plastic waste for creative solutions
Responding to Lesley Lokko’s theme, The Laboratory of the Future, the American pavilion At 18th Venice Architecture Biennale delves into the complexities of Plastic and its impact on production, resources and representation in the context of the nation. Curated by Tizziana Baldenebro and Lauren Leving, the exhibit titled Everstanding Plastics challenges our unnecessary reliance on single-use materials, offering alternative perspectives on the lifecycle and role of plastics in architecture and design. design.
Amid the climate crisis, the US pavilion encourages a collective reimagining of consumption and production by showcasing interventions and new reinterpretations of plastic waste. From Simon Anton’s recreation of an iron window grate with shredded confetti from Detroit plastic waste, to Lauren Yeagar’s sculpture made from discarded items around Cleveland, the pavilion creates a portrait of the city while calling for a more sustainable future. ‘The works on display expand existing narratives and make us aware of the silent and unconscious way in which we have used plastic as a material. Baldenebro tells designboom. Reframing global issues into conscious design solutions, these installations provoke reflection on our limited resources while paving the way for a more sustainable and inclusive creative future. Keep reading for full conversation as co-curator, Tizziana Baldenebro talks to us about the pavilion’s key themes, expands on how American artists are reusing plastic, and uncovers alternative perspectives on current global approaches to waste.
Tizziana Baldenebro (left) and Lauren Leving (right) — co-curators of Everstanding Plastics | picture of McKinley Wiley
interview with tizziana baldenebro on “eternal plastics”
design boom (DB): How does the pavilion address this year’s theme, Laboratory of the Future? What key concepts does it explore?
Tizziana Baldenebro (TB): Lesley Lokko sheds light on Africa and the African Diaspora in The Laboratory of the Future, drawing attention to a multiplicity of voices and unveiling what it means to be. “a change agent” while challenging, “the dominant voice (in architecture) has always been an exclusive and singular voice, whose reach and power ignore huge swaths of humanity. » Her work expands architectural discourse, challenging modes of production, resources and representation that are often ignored or erased.
Similarly, we chose to take a close look at plastic. Although plastic is a ubiquitous material in the world, it hides in plain sight. It insulates our homes, serves as a productive barrier, and acts as a carrier – both as a vessel and as a virus. Everstanding Plastics brings these tensions to the fore and more explicitly addresses the theme of the Laboratory of the Future through one of the practitioners we work with, Norman Teague. He uses Everstanding Plastics as a lab for his practice. Although he received a lot of criticism for his work with wood, we challenged him for this installation to work with recycled plastic, to rethink materiality. Her work considers the Global South and the Global North through a diasporic lens and a critique of Western extractivist practices in the Global South.
the pavilion examines the impact of plastic on production, resources and representation in the United States
Lauren Yeager, Longevity | image by ReportArch / Andrea Ferro Photography
We have arrived at our survey of plastic in our region. Petrochemical polymers were developed in the United States, and specifically in the Midwest, where we – the curators and the five exhibitors – currently or previously live and work. I was first inspired to develop the first iteration of this project in 2018 during studio visits with artists and designers in Chicago and Detroit exploring waste streams, methods of reusing materials, and our relationships. physical with plastic waste. These conversations extended to plasticity and how the mutability of plastic has influenced our expectations of how other materials behave. We live in a society that once prioritized and now values our reliance on single-use plastics in an effort to move away from a throwaway culture. Plastic has a relatively short history, but we now depend on this material. How to live with this abundance of waste?
in the face of the climate crisis, Everstanding Plastics encourages a collective reimagining of consumption and production
Lauren Yeager, Longevity | image by ReportArch / Andrea Ferro Photography
comics: How does the pavilion offer alternative perspectives on the life cycle and role of plastics in architecture and design?
VG: The works on display expand existing narratives and make us aware of the silent and unconscious way in which we have used plastic as a material. Ang Li’s installation, for example, makes polystyrene visible, a material we often overlook when using it to cover our walls or to store our takeaways. This material is difficult to reuse or recycle due to the volume it requires. So it goes straight to landfills and accounts for about 30% of US landfills. During this time, Xavi Aguirre develops a metaphorical use of the test, a sealing layer often made of plastic. Layers of protection make us both ready and resilient and, when properly deployed, can protect us from the elements in the most effective, environmentally friendly and efficient way. Plastic emerged as a solution to protect the environment, replacing ivory, tortoiseshell, animal furs, etc. But as we began to shift the use and consumption of plastic towards disposable and single-use, we began to apply this mentality to more and more materials. Our problem is about consumption: all the resources we consume are finite, and we need to understand that.
Tizziana Baldenebro and Lauren Leving question our unnecessary reliance on single-use materials
Ang Li, Externalities | image by ReportArch / Andrea Ferro Photography
DB: Can you tell us about some of the installations that demonstrate a sustainable (re)use of plastic as an artistic medium?
VG: We approached this project as a synthesis of art and architecture. Artistic thought, applied to architecture, has a greater capacity to address the public, while art applied to the scale of architecture has a greater capacity to confront the public. We therefore believe that these areas must maintain a close dialogue. Simon Anton, for example, looked at architectural ornamentation. In one piece, he draws inspiration from the Federal Reserve Bank window grille, reinterpreting it with pieces of plastic confetti made from shredded trash collected in his hometown of Detroit. In this way, the book testifies to the inextricable link between the economic policies of our country and the flows of consumption and production of plastic. Lauren Yeager’s sculptures in the courtyard, made up of objects thrown around Cleveland, create this portrait of a city. The recovery of these objects reframes waste and scrap in a poetic way.
