If Discarded Plastic Toys Return as Living Creatures After 500 Years

Seoul SaeHwalYong Plaza 'Plastic Jungle Expedition: SUP Raid' Exhibition
An exhibition exploring the world 500 years later where discarded toys have become organic matter
Workshop where participants dismantle toys and create artworks by adding imagination

A fresh exhibition exploring a world 500 years later, where discarded toys have turned into organic matter, is opening.

'Plastic Jungle Expedition: SUP Raid!' Exhibition Installation View. [Photo by Seoul Saehalyong Plaza]

Seoul Upcycling Plaza (SUP) announced on the 3rd that it will hold the exhibition "Plastic Jungle Expedition: SUP Raid!" from the 9th until December 31st at the Upcycling House performance hall on the first floor of Seoul Upcycling Plaza.

The exhibition targets children who will live in a rapidly changing future and highlights environmental and humanitarian issues such as the climate crisis and reckless resource development faced by contemporary society. Through artworks made from numerous toys that are intact but discarded due to lack of demand, the exhibition aims to provide an opportunity to reflect on the impact of current human consumption patterns on the Earth's environment.

We consume plastic every day. We easily buy and discard items that will not decompose even after 100 years, or perhaps 1000 years. Imagining the Earth 500 years from now, the exhibition depicts a world where plastic toys and AI robots have become organic matter and evolved into new species. Visitors explore the plastic jungle as ecologists from the year 2523, examining the consequences created by past humanity and ourselves in the present.

The exhibition was planned and participated in by the upcycling cultural arts collective "Piece of Peace," which works with the resident company "International Peace Trading" at Seoul Upcycling Plaza.

"Piece of Peace" (Cheon Geunseong, Lee Yeonwoo, Kim Hansol, Seo Donghae) is a collective of artists, makers, and cultural planners who express stories about "scrap circulation" and "object care" through cultural and artistic activities. They have addressed environmental awareness through artistic perspectives in projects such as "Scrap General Store," "Makers Extension Library," and "Seoul Akkaweo Center," and currently continue various upcycling activities with Seoul Upcycling Plaza as their new base.

During the exhibition period, workshops linked to the exhibition will be held for children. Children can bring their own toys they no longer play with or select one from the many toys in the exhibition hall to use as materials for the workshop.

Each workshop session can accommodate 12 children. Participants will be recruited through advance reservations during the exhibition period. The workshops are scheduled to be held four times in total on August 19, August 26, September 16, and September 23. Detailed information can be found on the website.

Lee Kyungdon, CEO of Seoul Design Foundation, said, "I hope that citizens visiting Seoul Upcycling Plaza enjoy various programs and, above all, that children living in the future have the opportunity to think about the Earth's environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.