Ore Streams
NGV - Triennale di Milano, 2017
Ore Streams1 is an ambitious investigation into the recycling of electronic waste developed by Formafantasma over the course of three years, first as a commission at the NGV2 Triennial in Melbourne in 20173 curated by Ewan Mc Eoin and Simone LeAmon, and then in 2018 for the XXII Triennale 'Broken Nature'4 curated by Paola Antonelli (senior curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA in NY). It uses a diversity of media (objects, video documentaries, and an animation) to address the topic from multiple perspectives, and reflect on how design could be an important agent for more responsible use of resources.
Humans have mined the Earth's surface for millennia in search of metals and minerals to fulfil production demands. In fact, forging metal changed the course of history: bronze empowered humans to weaponize, and gold facilitated local, then global, trade. At this very moment, new cavities are being hollowed out, while existing excavated sites are abandoned or refilled with new Earth – a superficial recompense. By 2080, the most significant metal reserves will not be underground but above the surface, as ingots stored in private buildings or otherwise circulated within products such as building materials, appliances, furniture, and consumer electronics.
On the surface of our planet, rivers of ore in the form of discarded hardware stream freely as if in a continuous, borderless continent. Efforts to recycle it remain experimental, uncharted, and contentious. New logistical structures, technologies, and cross – country transnational alliances are being forged to allow for the recovery of metals at the lowest expense. As this shift ensues, the mining industry will be permanently altered. We will enter a new phase, where aboveground scavenging outperforms and out – values digging for raw material.
Currently, electronics are the world's fastest – growing waste stream, but only 30 percent of the West's e-waste makes its way to appropriate recycling facilities. The remaining 70 percent is shipped, often illegally, to developing countries, where it is disassembled in poor working conditions, and toxic components of electronics are disposed of inappropriately. In several countries, legislation is now in place to ban such exportation of e – waste and to establish directives to ensure correct processing. Yet lawmakers underestimate the design possibilities that could improve recycling in both developed and developing countries.
The eighteen channel Ore Streams video installation aims to offer global strategies for the design of products that lend themselves to more efficient repair and recycling. It includes a series of interviews the Studio conducted with practitioners in the recycling sector, including European e – waste recyclers, academic researchers, electronics producers, NGOs working in developing countries, and members of Interpol. The installation also includes a video collecting historical and contemporary examples of planned obsolescence in electric and electronic objects at the centre of class – action lawsuits. One video explains recycling systems and technologies for sorting waste, and two videos show a selection of electronic products being carefully disassembled and recomposed. In the animation, Formafantasma uses 3D rendering to visualize possible strategies to improve repairing and recycling. The objects created for Ore Streams invite more in – depth exploration of aboveground mining, and the complex role design plays in transforming natural resources into desirable products. The office furniture is constructed out of recycled iron, aluminium, dead – stock of computer cases, and recycled electronic components. The office is where modern design principles are most visible – the search for efficiency, ideal standards, and a universal style are epitomized by furniture such as the filing cabinet and the modular cubicle. The choice to reference this environment is a nod not only to these principles, but to the same pragmatic approach of quantification, organization, and efficiency that runs the bureaucracies responsible for regulating and capitalizing on the circulation of natural resources, minerals, and waste toward the global production of goods.
The website www.orestreams.com collects all the research outcomes and compiles an archive of documents, videos, books and articles on the topic. The objects are available at Galleria Giustini / Stagetti5.
