The Plastic in Question

When invited to present The Plastic in Question at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch we were excited by the challenge of creating a show that would speak to the diverse library public. We thought the familiar template of a blog post would make our art and ideas easily accessible. Since many library visitors ricochet from the computers to the stacks and back again we had to design the exhibition experience so that the viewer could move through the entire exhibition or they could encounter just one post and come away with a complete thought. The exhibition spans the 1^st, 4^th and 5th floors, the Stegner Environmental Center and the elevator landings. We created arrangements in vitrines, wall displays with captions and signage throughout.

The library has collated an extensive bibliography.

Join us Thursday, September 27 for a panel discussion One Word: Plastics

For this exhibit we posed five important questions about the pervasive role plastic has come to play in contemporary life. In vitrines and display boards we explored the answers to:

Where is away, as in, throw away?

What’s the true cost of plastic?

Where did this plastic come from and how did it get to the beach?

What’s love got to do with it?

What to do about the problem of plastic pollution?

Viewers to the exhibition were encouraged to take personal responsibility for their daily use of plastic, bringing “refuse” into the conversation about reduce, reuse, recycle.