Death by Plastic

This artist’s ongoing environmental concern led her to research the lifecycle of plastic in hopes of addressing the attendant issues of a product which is both incredibly useful and undeniably one of the leading causes of pollution on the planet. For years, many countries were sending their plastics to overseas where some types were being recycled and made into new products, while the less desirable ones were being landfilled, or worse, burned. China’s recent refusal to accept these materials is a wakeup call for countries faced with not only a glut of plastic but also a lack of infrastructure to process them.

‘People worldwide are feeling outraged’, Spiess tells us, ‘betrayed by the fact that, after years of carefully rinsing and sorting our plastics, we discover that recycling is almost a myth. The result of my research is an ongoing series titled Death by Plastic. The piece aims to draw attention to issues of refuse and recycling by highlighting the plastic products regionally that are no longer profitable or possible to recycle.’

‘In the summer of 2019, I performed Death by Plastic for the first time in Moab, Utah, a small community seasonally infiltrated by tourists who come to explore the extraordinary pristine landscapes but leave behind large quantities of refuse the local municipality needs to manage. I have been creating art in the area for nearly two decades and have observed the community become incrementally more sustainable. When I arrived in Moab this year, I discovered that only plastics #1 and #2 are being recycled, everything else is landfilled. I felt like I had been hit by lightning and thought I would drop dead there, at the recycling centre. After a sleepless night, I decided to build a clear casket to lay in covered by plastics 3,4,5,6 & 7, which can no longer be recycled. The work was photographed on the local landfill, where the plastics would eventually end up.’

Venice, Italy is facing similar issues but on a grander scale. Thousands of tourists invade the city daily, leaving behind tons of waste, much of which is single-use plastic bottles. What’s not sorted ends up in canals and then out in the lagoon – a fragile body of water already facing countless challenges. ‘Part of the problem is that as consumers we have become incredibly lazy. The larger issue, however, is that corporations keep producing and wrapping products in plastics which are often not recyclable. The responsibility to solve this dilemma lies not only on the consumers but expressly on the corporations producing these products. To solve this problem, we need to make a significant paradigm shift and be willing to change our habits – as consumers, as product and packaging designers, and as corporations.’ On November 7th 2019, Spiess encased her body in a casket made of transparent plexiglas filled with fishing nets and single use plastics. A gondola carried the casket silently through the waterways of Venice, drawing attention to this globally significant issue.

There is a sense of frustrated helplessness throughout this project, but importantly, it highlights the items that we think – or hope – are being recycled and are instead being landfilled, or worse. Many of us have long assumed that the recyclables we were carefully cleaning and sorting were being processed and eventually re-used. The reality is that our planet is being smothered in plastic.

Anne-Katrin Spiess is a Swiss artist based in the USA. Her work can best be defined as conceptual land art.

In her own words, ‘I am interested in spaces, both physical and psychological and how the two relate to one another. I create site-specific projects in wide-open and extremely remote landscapes, where the severance from civilisation creates distance from the “real” world. My projects exist only for a few hours or days at a time, before they are disassembled, and the landscape is returned to its original condition. I document the works through photography, video and text.

Because of my close connection to nature and the deep sense of responsibility I feel towards the planet, several of my installations address and call attention to environmental concerns. As a result, I pay close attention to the materials I use, often employing the elements around me as source material. I collect or borrow from nature and occasionally introduce man- or machine-made materials as subtle reminders of human civilisation.

Performance and ritual also play an essential role in my work. Often, I use my own body in addition to what I find at a specific site, and the space takes on significance through the actions performed in it.

Much of my work is created in the deserts of the American West – the issue of desertification features prominently in my work – even though I am based in New York City. This dichotomy fuels my practice, and both places provide me with endless and disparate stimuli. I am able to work in incredibly isolated locales thanks to an Airstream trailer which becomes my traveling studio and hermitage for weeks at a time. When I find a site, I meditate with it, and after time I begin to work. My practice is a way of exploring solitude, and of becoming completely immersed in and with the land.’