Paper short abstract:

In a transdisciplinary engagement, we will show how objects made of plastic can serve as breaching experiments. We argue that such experiments can help to create new conceptual approaches towards objects at the margin of visibility and help to carefully and responsibly engage with plastic.

Paper long abstract:

Few materials have become debated as widely as plastic. Plastic has transformed from an object that nurtures commodity societies to an unruly object which informs Western capitalist practices, colonial relationships and ecological destruction (Davis 2015; Gabrys et al. 2013). Studies on plastic have reflected on the relationship between nature and artifice (Bensaude-Vincent 2007), conceptions of pollution, harm and affectedness (Liboiron 2016) or consumption, consumerism and responsibilities (Michael 2013). In our talk, we will apply a transdisciplinary approach spanning art and science in order to extend these reflections on plastic objects. Swaantje Güntzel, a conceptual artist, will present one of her artistic works in which objects made of plastic play a central role. As part of her performance, she collects and publicly re-distributes plastic garbage from different origins, e.g. the sea or public places, and creates visibility for former invisible objects. For almost a decade, she has collected the reception of this public performance. Building on Swaantje’s work, Sarah Schönbauer, a science studies scholar, will contextualize her performance as collective breaching experiment. Breaching social practices in which plastic objects are handled and dealt with disrupts cultural norms and expectations, a disruption which allows to analyze and make visible the implicit and explicit knowledge, know-how and daily routines that are part of these practices. In this transdisciplinary engagement, we will argue that breaching experiments with plastic objects can help to create potentially new conceptual approaches towards objects at the margin of visibility and help to carefully and responsibly engage with plastic.