Plastiglomerates
Copy of ‘Plastiglomerates’ archiving book, Materiality & Embodied (RCA), 2024
I began my exploration along the Thames River, collecting a variety of natural objects shaped and transformed by their urban surroundings. Among these were stones eroded by the river currents, with holes and intricate structures formed over time; bones that appeared to be vertebrae from an unknown mammal; and shells with an iridescent, mysterious purple hue. While these materials originated in nature, they have undergone significant alteration within the urbanized landscape, making them symbolic of the Anthropocene—a fusion of nature’s relics and humanity’s leftovers. These objects are simultaneously nature’s jewels and humanity’s waste, reflecting the entangled legacies of both.
This led me to ask ‘How should our community approach the materials of the future?’ One answer lies in the Plastiglomerate, a novel Anthropocene fossil. Plastiglomerates are formed when plastic melts and physically bonds with stones, aided by UV radiation and microbial activity. These deposits include sand, clay, synthetic fibers, plastics, and even abalone shells. They represent a unique assemblage, often referred to as a [Community material] where human and nonhuman entities combine to create something entirely new. Plastiglomerates lack clear hierarchies or sequential dominance among their components, which allows them to be perceived as egalitarian materials, shared equally among their elements.
Through the act of walking, I collected natural objects and imagined the components of plastiglomerates, observing their interplay of natural and artificial elements. These collected items inspired the creation of Bread—another kind of assemblage, crafted intentionally from diverse ingredients. By engaging in cooking and eating, the bread became more than sustenance; it symbolized the transformation of materials into a shared experience, emphasizing the intimacy of human interactions with materiality. Finally, through the process of sharing, I invited others and we shared the bread to prompt reflection on the nature of community materials.
By examining Plastiglomerates and Bread side by side, we see two distinct yet interconnected interpretations of community materials. Plastiglomerates highlight the accidental and often impersonal nature of material relationships in the Anthropocene, where coexistence is circumstantial and transient. Bread, in contrast, reflects a more deliberate and culturally meaningful assembly of materials that fosters human connection and solidarity.
Plastiglomerates are perhaps the quintessential example of a community material. Formed from the fusion of plastic, rocks, sand, and organic materials, plastiglomerates arise through a blend of human activity (discarded plastics), natural processes (erosion, microbial degradation), and environmental forces (UV radiation). They are materials of the Anthropocene, encapsulating a shared history of human and nonhuman interactions.
A defining characteristic of plastiglomerates as a community material is the way they blur the inherent properties and contexts of their individual components. As the unique qualities of plastic, rock, and organic matter become indistinct, new relationships emerge above these eroded boundaries. For example, a plastic buoy discarded into the ocean often becomes a habitat for marine organisms and microorganisms, transforming into a kind of community space. Yet, this community lacks the cohesive communication or solidarity we typically associate with human or ecological collectives. Instead, it resembles a transient gathering of entities that share physical space but have little meaningful connection beyond that proximity.