Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 19 (UNA): A grocery store featuring thousands of food items made entirely from discarded plastic bags opened to the public on Tuesday, the work of an inedible artist that draws attention to the dangers of plastic waste.
The Plastic Bag Shop is a public art installation and film experience designed specifically to encourage visitors to think more about the lasting impact of single-use plastics, the AP reports.
The shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has shelves stocked with items like meat, eggs, and muffins, all made from single-use plastics plucked from the streets and landfills.
At times during the day the shop will be the stage for a series of short films using puppets and hand tools to tell the story of the dangers of plastic waste and its consequences for future generations.
As the show’s tagline says: “Part installation. Part film. All the bags.”
Plastic bags are made from fossil fuels and often end up as waste in landfills and oceans.
Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags annually, according to the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington, DC.
Theater and film director Robin Frohart is the driving creative force behind The Plastic Bag Shop.
“I got the idea many years ago after watching someone carry grocery bags and double and triple bag,” Frohardt said Tuesday. “It kind of struck me as ridiculous how much packaging is going into our daily lives.
And it sounded so silly. I just thought, ‘Maybe I can make a more silly project.'”
The store’s shelves are lined with items whose names are meant to emulate real-world products such as “Yucky Shards” (Lucky Charms), “Bitz of Plastic Crap” (Ritz Crackers), “Bagemite” (Vegemite), and “Filthydelenary roll” (Philadelphia roll).
One product Frohardt didn’t have to change was baguettes, she said with a laugh, “because it was already in the name.”
The Plastic Bag Shop, which runs through February 5, is offered by a partnership between the University of Michigan Museum of Art, University Music Association, University of Michigan Arts Initiative, and the Graham Sustainability Institute.
The show premiered in Times Square in 2020. It has since been on hiatus in Los Angeles; chicago; Austin, Texas; and Adelaide, Australia.
“I hope we can continue to tour this project and bring it to different communities,” said Frohart, who is based in New York. “My dream is for this project to become irrelevant.
“But it probably won’t be.”