Ocean plastic waste as art material

Through the inventive use of the waste of industrial production and the personal vision of a responsible society, some artists believe that it is possible to influence consumers’ attitudes and adopt a more responsible environmental behavior. Many artists do not only work with plastic waste but their ideals and methodologies are intimately related with a strong personal commitment in the environmental field. How can they produce new ways to acknowledge phenomena like the plastic pollution of oceans and the hazards it produces to our environment ? This Master of Arts thesis will endeavor to highlight the critical rethinking that contemporary artists are calling for, for this specific aspect of our consumer’s society and the consequences it entails on our future life. It will deal with the ocean plastic waste and pollution problem and artists’ role in mediating with the public through their practice and aesthetic vision. The thesis consists of three parts: a research, interviews with international artists and a production part. The first part of the thesis targets the significance of waste as material in contemporary art, familiarises the reader with a short history of the origins of plastic and examines the specific problem of ocean plastic waste. The second part focuses on interviews with artists who use ocean plastic waste as materials in their art practice. The third part consists of a personal production which combines my diving skills with my art practice and follows the main idea of the whole thesis that is to use ocean plastic waste as artistic material and in so doing to engage a dialogue with the public to raise awareness on this problem