Single-use Planet
This was a transdisciplinary work, created and put on in the first half of 2022 as part of QUT’s Beyond the Musem.
I was very fortunate to get to work with a team of creative individuals to bring alive an art installation that incorporated poetry, music and live performance. I had never created anything this big on a physical scale prior to this and, not only did I thoroughly enjoy this experience, I learnt many skills along the way.
Our Project Elements:
Idea
After a week or two of conceptualising, the group came up with this sort of ‘Journey Through Time‘ experience where participants would walk through our exhibit and slowly understand the effects that plastic will have on the environment as the years go by. With two drama students, two visual art students, one writing student and one music student, we knew that we wanted to incorporate everyone’s skills.
Forming / Building Part 1 (plastic statues)
In the first part of the journey, you were greeted with statues or figures made of majority single-use plastic items. We made a total of eight individual pieces as a result of a collective effort. Playing, creating and sharing ideas during each creation session we had.
Collecting Research and Making Part 2 (Plinths)
For the second physical section of our installation, we had planned to collect some everyday single-use items that we thought would be ridiculed in the future. We did research on small plastic items that do big damage to the environment and we presented them in a satirical form. I wrote some of the didactics that we placed on the plinths and recorded my voice reading them aloud to be used with the QR-Codes as we also wanted to include a hands-on element for the installation
Writing Poetry Inspired by the Cause
Our resider writer of the group worked hard to create some poems to be put on the statues. She cleverly used onomatopoeias and placed them on relevant statues depending on the materials. She performed these live on the night.
Writing the “Middle Man” Monologue
Our writer and the performer worked on this one together and it was edited by myself and another group member.
Making the Music
Our Musician wanted to use the sounds of plastic, glass and mental objects (common recyclable objects) to make a soundscape with. We took some items into the recording studios and got creative.
Arina Dara 