THROWAWAY. THE HISTORY OF A MODERN CRISIS

The Circular Economy Action Plan promoted the creation of an exhibition focused on issues associated with waste management in European societies during the last two hundred years. Ypunto led the coordination, design and production of a temporary exhibition, an informational website and a catalogue of the show. The development of the project demanded aligning all the discourse, design and materialisation aspects of the exhibition with circular economy principles, plus the active participation of social agents and collaboration with other museums involved in the initiative.

Based on a detailed study of the topic and contributions from the Basurama and Rotor collectives, Ypunto designed a comprehensive narrative strategy that seamlessly integrated the design of the installation, the visual identity, the conceptual discourse and the communicative elements of the exhibition in all its dimensions.
The exhibition concept adapted the existing script to the available spaces. In the entrance hall, visitors were received by a five-metre-high container filled with rubbish thrown away by European Parliament employees. The itinerary continued in the basement, addressing cultural paradoxes about waste, wealth and recycled materials, charting their management from the nineteenth century to the Second World War. On the second floor, the beginning of the consumer era was represented over a pool of electronic waste and products with planned obsolescence. The final section focused on colonial and ecological issues associated with the present economic system, facilitating a broader understanding of the dynamics presented in the exhibition.

The show encouraged audience participation with interactives that allowed visitors to share their opinions about the featured topics, as well as offering them the opportunity to play with, touch and discover different sections of the exhibition. The entire exhibition design was articulated through a vernacular language of the ephemeral, materialised through modules built with scaffolding tubes that accommodated panels of recycled plastic and other elements. The ease of reusing or recycling these elements was coordinated with different local organisations, simultaneously meeting all the conservation requirements established by the lenders of the original objects. Other aspects of the exhibition concerned the copyright management of all the images and reproductions, and the definition of an aesthetic style guide for all the other services linked to the project.

Working in close partnership with Gráfica Futura, Ypunto managed the entire graphic design for the exhibition and coordinated the design and production of the catalogue, including a thorough stylistic review and close monitoring of the production tests.

Lastly, the website acted as a digital mirror celebrating participation and promoting awareness of the topics featured in the exhibition across the entire European Union. Ypunto transferred the creative and narrative concept of this section to the studio Clase BCN, which developed a new visual proposal with the necessary architecture to host a wide variety of contents provided by the different partner institutions. Digiocracy implemented the website and integrated the Parliament's digital tools for their translation into the twenty-four official languages.