PET band

UJOO+LIMHEEYOUNG

Artwork Description:

What would animals tell human beings after they have died with their bellies full of the plastic garbage that we have thrown away? How much beauty must we lose before we can live in harmony with nature? PET band is a mechanical device that records and plays back sounds on pieces of discarded plastic waste. Applying the principles of Thomas Edison’s tin foil phonograph, the work uses PET waste to record the voices of different people speaking about matters of human/nature coexistence, including topics of environmental pollution, plastic trash, and climate change. It consists of four plastic waste playback devices modeled on animals. The different voices recorded on the PET waste are played back automatically and simultaneously. The recordings include a news report on glaciers melting due to global warming, the story of a sperm whale that died after eating 22 kg of plastic waste, information about mutations in animals as a result of the Chernobyl radiation leak, and a briefing by the Minister of Environment on new environmental policies. Meanwhile, the viewer hears the overlapping sounds of a voice reciting poetry, the twittering of birds, and a trumpet performance of “La Cucaracha.”