waves in the sky

The synthetic is overtaking the natural environment. In the next 30 years, at the current pace, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. SYNTHETIC GROVE’s goal is to provide awareness of this suffocation of the ecosystem in a visceral and temporal manner. This forest will grow continually as the citizens deposit their plastic waste on the bamboo poles, creating a record of how the city uses plastics as well as directly participating in the creation of the form. A prescribed path has been generated for moving through the installation. If one chooses to stray from the path to reach pockets of hidden spaces within, they will need to confront the plastic by maneuvering through the tightly knit grove. Pivot joints on the base allow for each pole to lean to all sides, making room for someone to pass. By using all modular, off the shelf pieces, the installation will be able to fit a range of spaces and be able to moved and constructed simply. The plastic collected (up to 12,000 pieces) will be recycled as it moves from city to city. Ultimately, by surrounding the senses with this synthetic waste, people will be able to directly experience the consequences of not changing their destructive habits.