Waste is directly linked to cultures of consumption and inequality, as well as to scientific and technological innovation in production and recycling.

Building on work done in the book Garbage in Popular Culture: Consumption and the Aesthetics of Waste, this research area explores how artists of different disciplines, use waste and detritus in their creative, innovative and activism endeavors, and how scientific and tech narratives intersect with their work.

Waste artists currently being written about include Tamzyn Botha and Shade, Francois Knoetze, Gonçalo Mabunda.

Principal investigator: Prof. Mehita Iqani