We are always hunting high and low for innovative ways to reduce and reuse the plethora of plastic bags in our midst. The New York-based design firm, MSLK, is currently proposing an innovative and creative way for concerned citizens to link together “2,663 bags” – the alarming amount of bags consumed every second in America – by having folks donate their unwanted plastic sacs to the 2,663 Urban Tumbleweed Project. The jetsam and flotsam of modern life can now be used to visualize just how crucial it is to curb our consumption and laissez-faire attitudes towards the ubiquitous plastic bag.
It is no surprise that free floating plastic bags are often referred to as “urban tumbleweeds” in our city neighborhoods because of their weed-like, drifting quality. Recall the scene from American Beauty where Kevin Spacey’s drug dealing neighbor is filming a plastic bag floating around? In any case, MSLK’s art installation proposes to hand-tie all collected bags together in a chain made out of 2,663 linked plastic bags – a visualization of only 1 second of bag consumption in the States. The design group states, “By visually translating current statistics, the installation brings awareness to our society’s mindless over consumption and the severe environmental impacts.” Put on display at Burning Man 2008, and a variety of other events in the near future.
