155 crocheted plastics bags, 3D-printed PLA buckles, readymade details_12” x 6” x 18”_2015
Filmpack 1.0 is a backpack made from 155 plastic bags, readymade details, and 3D printed buckles from compostable PLA plastic. The bag took 127 hours to crochet, and operated as a functional sculpture between 2015-2019. Haftner learned how to crochet plastic bags when she was young from her grandmother, Ruby Simons, who uses the method to produce strong, multipurpose tote bags. The same method is used globally, particularly by women and people from low economic standing, who “harvest” plastic bags from the environment to repurpose.
Filmpack is a reflection on the durability, versatility, and mismanagement of disposable plastics. It celebrates plastic’s qualities and potential, not suggesting that we abandon plastic altogether, but rather that we consider more appropriate and critical applications for it based on its properties. It’s obvious that something used for mere moments should not last 1000 years. But then, what should? How do we facilitate recapture?
For four years this wearable sculpture has been a generative site of intimate public dialogue. Version 2.0 is forthcoming.