Created 11 April 2013 | ||
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The garbage patch state wasteland
"The Garbage Patch State – Wasteland" is a 2013 environmental artwork by Maria Cristina Finucci to raise awareness about the environmental hazard of the Great Pacific garbage patch caused by the dispersion of plastic debris in the oceans. Installations, performances, videos created the image of the Garbage Patch State under the patronage of UNESCO and the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
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History
The Garbage Patch State was a transmedia project carried out under the patronage of UNESCO and the Italian Ministry of the Environment The transmedia project was born at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 11 April 2013, consisting of installations, performances, and videos. A few months later, its National Pavilion was set up in the courtyard of Ca' Foscari University of Venice during the 55th edition of the Venice Biennale. The work travelled to Madrid with an installation on the Gran Via (Madrid) as a collateral event of the ARCO fair, followed by the opening of the Embassy at the MAXXI museum in Rome on the occasion of the Garbage Patch State’s first National Holyday.
Collaborations
Collaborators of this ongoing project have been academic institutions such as Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the universities La Sapienza and Roma Tre in Rome, Università Roma Tre, and the European Institute of Design in Madrid. The project’s main partners were ENI for the installations in Paris, Rome, and Venice and ENDESA for the installation in Madrid.
Awards
Finucci received the “Golden Apple” of the 26th edition of the Marisa Bellisario Prize, "Donne Ad Alta Quota" (“High-Flying Women”) and "Civiltà dell’Acqua" (“Civilization of Water”) in 2013.
