This pop-up museum turned old plastic into art to make an important point about sustainability
If you're keen on learning more about sustainability and how it relates to helping to clean up our environment (and live in New York City), this is one event you'll definitely want to hit up. It's called Arcadia Earth, a pop-up museum set to open August 30 in the heart of the city. Spanning 15,000 square feet and offering 15 interactive rooms for visitors to explore, Arcadia Earth is best described as a "beautiful journey" through ecological issues like plastic pollution, food waste, climate change, and more.
If you're in the area or live close to 718 Broadway in New York City, you can look forward to a variety of installations each developed with upcycled materials and other reusable and recyclable items. One such interactive exhibit you'll experience as part of your visit is a cave created from 44,000 recycled plastic bags, meant to represent the number New Yorkers go through in just one minute – though this particular installation is carbon-neutral. The pop-up event will be rife with plenty of aesthetically pleasing augmented reality and art installation projects, all springing from a core desire from founder and designer Valentino Vettori to "challenge traditional methods" when it comes to communicating sustainability issues.
"My goal is to inspire change by inspiring people with knowledge,” said Vettori of his passion project. For the plastic bag project, Arcadia tapped Brooklyn artist Basia Goszczynska to help uphold New York State's ban on the bags for an awe-inspiring piece. Each of the other areas were created as part of a collaboration with environmental artists like Samuelle Green, Etty Yaniv, Cindy Roe, and Emmy Mikelson, to name a few.
But it's not just about having fun, of course. In addition to the lessons each room aims to teach about the current and future state of our Earth, attendees will be able to learn a thing or two while exploring thanks to a selection of panels and talks scheduled to take place during the event's run. To "inspire and motivate by sharing simple life hacks to create a healthier world, according to Arcadia Earth, experts and celebrities will be on hand, all speaking on the sustainability movement and how it relates to activism, fashion, and the future of our planet.
Sustainability-minded life hacks like eating less meat, wasting less food, and reducing single-use plastic will also be shared with attendees in a bid to help the masses work toward a better future. It certainly sounds inspirational, and could be a game-changer when it comes to getting folks excited about doing their part to helping to lessen our footprint when it comes to the environment.
If you're interested in attending, tickets are now available at the official Arcadia Earth website. For now, there are only dates for the event in New York City, but hopefully a successful run will mean that changes in the near future so more people can get involved.
