PLASTIVORE
ART FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
- Join the movement -
By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, unless we take real action.
Our mission is to initiate that global change through art, innovation, and the power of the public.
Plastivore is a humanitarian solution to plastic pollution that operates between borders, and between disciplines. We are pioneering a fully automated 3D-printing machine that consumes plastic waste and transforms it into 3D-printed building blocks used to make temporary housing solutions for displaced communities.
This unprecedented large scale format reflects the gravitas of the plastic crisis, the genuine interdisciplinarity of our innovative solution, and finally the magnitude of real impact our project will have.
2021 Arts Biennale, Venice
In collaboration with the Venetian Institute of Marine Sciences, we are launching our ambitious project at the 2021 Venice Biennale in the beautiful Palazzina Canonica, a historic location at the centre of the Biennale.
The power of ritual
For this exhibition we are harnessing the powerful metaphor of a ritual. Through an immersive and interactive experience, visitors will ‘sacrifice’ plastic waste to the Plastivore machine, which will then convert it into 3D-printed building blocks. These building blocks will be continually added to the Plastivore Temple.
People can enter the serene Plastivore Temple as a space for reflection and mindfulness about plastic and the ocean, witnessing the beauty that can be produced when plastic undergoes ‘reincarnation’.
Transforming Rubbish into Ritual
The Machine
The audience offer up their plastic waste which then travels along a conveyor before being dropped from a height into the shredder producing an impressive, relentless plastic ‘waterfall’.
The shredded plastic is then converted into filament and fed into the 3D-printer which continually prints building blocks.
The Message
Visitors can write their personal ‘Message In A Bottle‘ to the future generations. This will then be 3D printed onto the building block and added to the Temple.
The Experience
The visitor’s personalised ‘Message in a Bottle’ is now added to the interior of the Temple for all to see. This turns the Temple into a living, ever-changing sculpture that remembers and honours the user’s sacrifice to help it grow.
Throughout the Biennale these blocks will be added to the Plastivore Pavilion via a ritualistic performance.
Arte Útil
We are mobilising the ethos of Arte Útil to create social change through art. Arte Útil roughly translates into English as ‘useful art’ but it goes further suggesting art as a tool or device to imagine, create and implement tactics that change how we act in society.
Arte Útil is defined by a set of criteria formulated by world renowned contemporary artist Tania Bruguera, who earlier this year held the prestigious Turbine Hall commission at Tate Modern, London.
Arte Útil projects should:
1. Propose new uses for art within society
2. Use artistic thinking to challenge the field within which it operates
3. Respond to current urgencies
4. Operate on a 1:1 scale
5. Replace authors with initiators, and replace spectators with users
6. Have practical, beneficial outcomes for its users
7. Pursue sustainability
8. Re-establish aesthetics as a system of transformation
The Plastivore mission
Through art, science and technology, the Plastivore Project provides a long-term positive impact to society and the environment. After the Biennale, the Plastivore Project will also go on an international tour to different public locations engaging a variety of communities. Each time, plastic from the local regions will be used to feed the machine and create objects that are in need, responding to local urgencies.
Our first intervention will be in Guatemala. Guatemala suffers from major plastic pollution in the rivers and is also exposed to many natural hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and hurricanes, so temporary housing solutions are in urgent need. Therefore, the Plastivore project will provide a solution to both the plastic pollution problem as well as the housing shortages at the same time.
Each time Plastivore travels to a new location, the local plastic will also be used to print one building block that will be added to the Plastivore Temple.
Our Longterm Mission
The Team
Eyal Gever
Eyal Gever is a renowned contemporary artist whose work sits at the fusion of art and technology. Using just a palette of code, he develops life-like digital simulations of moments in time - often dramatic or catastrophic in nature from which he fabricates 3D-printed sculptures and light installations. Born in 1970 in Tel Aviv, Israel, attended Jerusalem’s prestigious Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Eyal has been working on the development of 3D technologies for nearly twenty years.
Harnessing these expertise, Eyal’s artworks are always characterized by the use of cutting-edge technologies to explore and examine issues surrounding innovation, ecology and global issues.
Prestigiously, Eyal was the first artist commissioned by NASA to produce a sculpture in space. For this, he initiated a worldwide participatory project, #Laugh, in which the public could submit a recording of their own laugh, and vote for their favourite laughter recording. Crowdsourced from more than 100,000 contributions the sound waves of the most popular laughter was then printed by a zero-gravity 3D-printer onboard the International Space Station. #Laugh, is the first art sculpture ever to be produced in space.
Natasha Gertler
Cofounder of Visualogical; a female-founded ArtScience curatorial collective committed to creating stimulating systems of social investigation, introspection and intervention, tackling some of the most urgent issues of our contemporary zeitgeist.
Natasha Gertler uses her Physics degree; MSci in Science Communication from Imperial College London; and curatorial training from Goldsmiths to inform her continued exploration of the intersection between art, science and technology.
She has worked for The Science Museum, Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, Art Night, Courtauld Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and the Weizmann Institute.
Victoria Westerman
Cofounder of Visualogical. Victoria Westerman uses her MA in Art and Science from Central Saint Martins and her background as a visual researcher and instigator of community art workshops to specialise in designing systems of enhanced communication and engagement, seeking to dismantle the boundaries between audience, research and future realities.
Identifying as a Techno-Shaman and visual futurist, Victoria’s skills orientate around hacking and gamifying art to solve the problems of society whilst also actualising our spiritual and human potential as a species.
She has collaborated with the likes of CERN, Extinction Rebellion, Cambridge University, Art Night, and Tate Exchange at Tate Modern.
Prof. Eyal Nir
Professor Eyal Nir is an entrepreneur, researcher and architect. After receiving his PhD in digital architecture from the Technion, he has since co-founded the Department of Interior Building and Environment Design at Shenkar College; founded BOTS101 (an AI-based platform for bots handling creative content creation); and practiced architecture at Foster + Partners in London as a founding member of the Specialist Modelling Group, working on high profile projects including Wembley Stadium.
In 2012 Eyal joined Autodesk to form and direct the applied research activities in the Tel Aviv office, Research.IL.
The research team under his leadership developed hardware and software for 3D-printing at any scale, algorithms and APIs for end-to-end digital manufacturing workflows.
Prof. Ezri Tarazi
Prof. Ezri Tarazi is the Chair of Industrial Design Program at the Technion. In 2017, Ezri exhibited in the Tel Aviv Museum’s acclaimed exhibition: ‘3.5 Square Meters: Constructive Responses to Natural Disasters Exhibition and Research Project’ where he showcased his research into repurposing plastics for shelters, for the first time, making him an expert on the subject.
Ezri’s work has also been shown in important museums, galleries and design fairs around the world such as Design Week Milan, Moss Gallery New York, Biennale for Design Istanbul and Design Miami-Basel.
Our Partners
ISMAR
The exhibition will be held in the former headquarters of ISMAR, the Palazzina Canonica next to the Giardini and Arsenale, the two central sites of the Biennale. The beautiful architecture of the Palazzina Canonica is typical of the traditional Venetian buildings and even has nautical and maritime features built in it, making it truly the perfect place for the Plastivore project.
We will be working alongside the ISMAR scientists to create an engaging and educational programme of events concerning the climate, not only harnessing their beautiful building but ISMAR’s thriving scientific community too. We will transform the Palazzina Canonica into an accessible space to both artists, scientists and the public alike.
The Technion
We are collaborating with the Technion Institute of Technology for the R&D of the Plastivore machines. The Technion is joint 8th with MIT for the number of nobel prizes per institution in the World.
Prof. Ezri Tarazi is the Chair of Industrial Design Program at the Technion where we will fund two students from Prof. Ezri Tarazi’s lab at the Technion to do further develop Ezri’s work in this area for our project to pioneer a sustainable and efficient way to transform harmful plastic waste into useful building blocks with infinite potential.
SIPA
With 30 years of experience in plastic container solutions, SIPA has acquired considerable expertise in all available bottle manufacturing and filling technologies and is a global leader in the production of plastics.
However SIPA is also a world leader in recycling systems too, meaning the Circular Economy starts and ends with SIPA. Therefore we believe SIPA is integral to solving the plastic pollution problem. By coming forward and collaborating with Plastivore SIPA is providing the necessary technology and machinery to take on such an ambitious goal and setting a precedent for global industries that the climate movement can begin from production start to infrastructure finish.
Contact us
If you’re interesting in joining the Plastivore movement or to just learn more, please get in touch through the form below: