Collaborating on their shared interest in the environment, space and product designer Taiho Shin, interdisciplinary artist Unhappy Circuit and sound artist Gang il Yi present Plastic Currency to explore the theme of ’recycling plastic materials’. The three collaborators shared and drew from their own in-depth research; Unhappy Circuit conducted data analysis, Shin presented material driven design methodologies, and Lee took on algorithm graphics.
Plastic Currency problematizes the plastic recycling system as one that rarely performs as envisioned. Shin, Unhappy Circuit and Lee make visible the inefficiency of the plastic recycling system to bring to light the subsystems beneath surface.
By converting the value of recycled plastic into currency, the collaborators argue that we should recognize contemporary ’discard management’ as the crucial component of society’s value system, rather than deeming it as an invisible underclass of society. This project pursues the question of redeeming and restructuring the logic of capital, and strives to create a virtuous cycle that reconnects the ’broken system’ and enacts meaningful change in society.