Microcultures & Microplastics

Background: Since Horst Rittel coined the term "wicked problems" to denote intractably complex real world problems, designers have developed unique forms of engagement with such issues, as described by Richard Buchanan. Currently, global waste and ocean pollution is a wicked problem that has come to the fore, with innovative design responses such as the Studio Swine “seachair” ocean plastic recycling project. Contribution: Following from my CSIRO SYNAPSE residency, I curatorially developed a Global Design Studio, between RMIT and the London College of Communications, on issues regarding microplastics. Using the wicked problems framework, I worked with experts from the CSIRO who gave lectures for the studio, as well as the Tangaroa Blue foundation, the Protohub plastic recycling workshop, and local designers. Together we presented RMIT and UAL students with myriad problems and responses regarding microplastics, and ways in which local microcultures can engage with such issues, enframed by wicked problems, synthesizing both the conceptual and material problems into potential resources. Significance: Inspired by my work synthesizing chemicals during my CSIRO residency, I developed interdisciplinary collaborative projects materially and conceptually brought together wickedness and synthesis. This included a “visual synthesis” group exercise: in a process that was an analogy of chemical synthesis, each participant drew an aspect of the microplastics issue; they then had to iteratively synthesize the visual motifs from two others, until they all came together into a single image, which manifested the parameters of the wicked problem they were trying to understand. Another project was collecting ocean plastics, which were used both as data for Tangaroa Blue, and material for critical design works. Such exercises provided inspiration for the waste plastic feature installation in the gallery. The exhibition was selected by the NGV to be part of Melbourne Design Week 2020.