REPORTAGE: "Fake food, real garbage" by Cristina Morozzi
A satirical supermarket of food products made entirely of plastic to provoke and reflect on the amount of waste that invades the planet. Read the full reportage.
At the UCLA Center in Los Angeles, there is a provocative exhibition titled "Fake Food Real Garbage". The installation aims to show the longevity of our daily waste, which invades lands, beaches and seas. As at the supermarket, crates of fruits and vegetables, packages of cheese, bottles of preserves and juices, fish, shellfish and other counter products are displayed. Realistic, but made of plastic.
The secret of this provocation, which is imagined to solicit reflection on household waste disposal, lies in quantity and out of context. Apart from the unpleasant claustrophobic sensation, visiting a museum covered in thousands of supermarket plastic bags is like a punch in the stomach. It forces us to become fully aware of the infinite quantity of plastic wrappings surrounding us.
Seeing supermarket merchandise on display in a museum provokes disorientation. After a first quick glance at those shiny colours, it reveals its bogusness.
There is also a version of the typical funfair tunnel of fear, "The plastic bag store", where you are attacked by a profusion of plastic bags in place of the fake ghosts.
Cristina Morozzi
