What is Bag?
What is BAG?
BAG (Bags Across the Globe) is conceived as a global collaborative piece, or what contemporary artist-activists call an “intervention”, in which the artist carries out an action in the public sphere. The goal of BAG is to collaborate with friends and strangers in countries across the globe, in order to bring attention to the environmental damage caused by single-use plastic shopping bags and textile waste, and to promote the use of reusable cloth bags.
Conceptual basis of BAG:
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that worldwide we use one trillion plastic shopping bags annually; some estimates are as high as four or five trillion. Less than 1% of these are recycled. In addition, there is an estimated 2.5 billion pounds of textile waste created annually in the U.S. alone. BAG is part of a global effort to reduce, reuse and recycle. This project takes a stand against the excesses of consumer culture and the glorification of high-priced luxury items such as designer bags. BAG proclaims that stylish, one of-a-kind bags are accessible to anyone, regardless of income. These bags will be exchanged as free gifts, reflecting traditional cultures’ practice of exchanging gifts to cement relationships. BAG is more than exchange of objects: it is about an exchange of energy and information, and the bags function as vehicles for this exchange. BAG will encourage other people to take up this effort and create their own bags out of local waste materials, and to share them with others. We hope that Bag spin-offs pop up all over the globe!
BAG Team:
The BAG Team is headed up by artist/design professor Ann Savageau, of University of California Davis. Ann is assisted by Design students who have sewn the bags and helped to design the installation and the website and blog. See “BAG Team” for details.
BAG Process:
Each bag will contain the following: a) a letter explaining the BAG project; b) a postcard made out of recycled paper with the BAG logo; c) a sheet with facts about the environmental damage caused by plastic bags and textile waste.
Beginning in May, 2009 I mailed two shopping bags each to over 80 people in countries across the globe. Recipients are asked to use one bag for shopping. They send the second bag to a friend in another country, to do the same, so the bag project has spread across the world. Recipients mail me their postcards with a message, and a photo of themselves holding the bag.
The photos and messages that recipients have sent are displayed on the interactive map (see “Travel Record”).
Final Product:
The BAG project will be shown as a gallery installation when the process is complete. I am planning for the installation to travel to several countries and involve local people in workshops to create shopping bags out of locally available materials.
Visit the following sites for related information: