Future Wastes: Urban Sandpit
Between the 20-22.03 a group of three students from MA Social Design organised an exhibition under the title Future Waste: Urban Sandpit. The programme encompassed an organised workshop, a series of lectures, screenings and an evening of networking. The main aim, apart from addressing our dependency on natural resources within the building and construction industry, was to create an open platform between experts and non-professionals, allowing for a free exchange of views. The exhibition which combined a Sand Pit, video installation and a table game aimed to use the example of sand depletion to encourage new ways of thinking which drive the normalization of urban mining and converting construction and building waste into secondary resource.
The workshop, organised on the first two days, had a two-fold approach with the aim to address our ignorance regarding the use, exploitation, composition and availability of sand. At the beginning the participants were asked to use the available sand and confined space of the Sand Pit to freely build and rearrange the resource. There was no predetermined procedure in order to investigate each person’s individual approach and strategy. The second part, included the process of dismantling the installation, which was incorporated in the game and required a strong involvement from the members, who were asked to ‘export’ (or pack) all the sand in the pit into small plastic bags thus building an external structure or wall, outside of the main installation. There was a limited time and thus the decisions of working individually (competitively) or collectively had to be made in an effective way thus mirroring the reality, where there is a strong need for collaboration between actors and stakeholders. The game finished with the transparent dismantling of the structure to highlight the flexibility, adaptability and potential reuse of the installation.
On Tuesday 20.03, the playful as well as experimental approach was combined with a theoretical input in a form of two lectures by Thomas Romm and Johann Fellner. The former, an expert in architectural consulting, construction and planning, spoke about the obstacles and challenges of urban mining from an engineering and architectural perspective. The latter, a researcher and lecturer in the Christian Doppler Labor for Anthropogenic Resources, discussed the environmental impact of mining for raw materials, resource consumption and resource scarcity. The speeches created an interesting narrative, where the audiences got insights into the different stages of building process thus understood the connection between extraction, manufacturing, use and demolition. The lecturers contrasted and complimented each other and gave guests the chances to directly ask questions as well as opened space for discussion.
The last day consisted of a three hour open exhibition during which all visitors were free to enter the space, walk through and engage in a short conversation about their approach to the topic. Generally the event attracted a wide range of diverse audience and was an interesting introduction to Urban Mining, resource management and construction material recycling, which will be continually developed until September.
A project by Zuzanna Zajac, David Grüner, Raphael Volkmer
Social Design, Arts and Urban Innovation, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
Social Design, Arts and Urban Innovation, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
