Wastescape (2012)

Wastescape brings together thousands of discarded and used plastic bottles and food packaging materials, gathered from Moravia, the South Bank Centre, and Bywaters recycling and recovery centre in Bow, each one crafted into miniature architectural objects, that together transform an under-served space at the top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall into the multi-sensory immersive installation. Oral histories from both Moravia and London bring these communities to life, with sound weaving through the space. Gayle Chong Kwan has worked with discarded and waste materials, and with communities in Moravia, a neighbourhood in Medellin in Columbia built on the city’s unofficial rubbish dump. Moravia has developed unique forms of democratic community organisation as well as waste management strategies, with its economy and vernacular architecture centring around the recycling and re-use of waste materials.