Fri 27 June 2025
Grands Carmes — Main room — 21:30
Rooted in post-human theory and Gen Z aesthetics, this work explores plasticity as both material and mindset. Drawing from ecotoxicology, digital culture, and embodied research, it asks: what does it mean to be human in an age where plastics are inside us—biologically, socially, and technologically? Between viral fears and kawaii memes, the piece imagines a future where bodies and polymers intertwine. Plastic is no longer just waste but a way of reshaping touch, identity, and our porous relationship to the world.
Heavyware
Macro Plastic — Belgium/Unided Kingdom — 20'
In 2022, Professor Dick Vethaak, ecotoxicologist at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, published a study reporting the first detection of microplastic in human blood. In 2025, plastics are all around us, wired into our technologies, ingested in our food, implanted in our bodies, making their way into our stomachs as well as our oceans. In 200 years time, will we be more plastic than human? If the rising anxiety on platforms like Tik-Tok and Instagram is anything to go by, our organs may be fossilized into cold, shiny polymers.
Our work is rooted in the question: How can plasticity modify our notions of human physicality? We define plasticity as: the mouldable quality of a material in a temporary or reversible way, and the flexibility to adapt. We also look at the etymology of the word plastic. We look at the tactility of plastics, their ability to be shaped and moulded to interact with the body. Speaking to the ability of an object, body, word or world to be folded in temporary and permanent ways, we aim to create a futuristic space where plasticity is not just a material but a way of thinking. Our working philosophy embraces the malleability of plastic, its multi-functions, uses and powers of democratisation as a cheap material widely available to be used for creation, as opposed to more precious materials.
Looking at digital trends relating to microplastics, we see a wave of reactionary content demonising plastic. This is aimed at convincing people to eradicate the individual use of plastic through acts such as brushing their teeth with wooden sticks, yielding to a dangerous culture of online conspiracies and fear mongering. At the same time, typical of Gen Z, microplastics have become the subject of viral images with a Kawaii aesthetic about the deliciousness of these harmful substances. Our work sits between these two responses whilst utilising the post-human theory that there isn’t a distinction between nature, technology and living bodies.
