Robin Frohardt: The Plastic Bag Store
Robin Frohardt
The Plastic Bag Store
June 30-July 11, 2021
Installation location: 661 Imperial
Tickets available here
The Plastic Bag Store is a public art installation and immersive film experience created by New York-based artist, filmmaker, and director Robin Frohardt. Employing humor, craft, and puppetry, Frohardt offers a critical lens of our culture of consumption and convenience — specifically, the enduring effects of our single-use plastics. The Plastic Bag Store premiered in New York’s Times Square in October 2020 after the COVID-lockdown delayed the project’s original public opening.
The Los Angeles presentation of The Plastic Bag Store is produced by Pomegranate Arts and presented by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. ICA LA is pleased to partner with the screening two short films related to the project and a co-sponsorship of public programs.
On view in the Annex at ICA LA:
A Guided Tour of Robin Frohardt’s The Plastic Bag Store
A behind the scenes look at The Plastic Bag Store in conversation with Robin Frohardt and Jean Cooney, Director, Times Square Arts. TRT 11:06
Shown by special arrangement with Times Square Arts.
BAG
An all-cardboard short film created by Robin Frohardt with original music by freddi price, BAG follows the journey of one plastic bag from the present day to the far off-future. Intricate hand-made sets and lo-fi special effects come together to weave an ode to the forever-ness of plastic. BAG Premiered at the Aspen Shorts Fest in 2020 where it won the Ellen Award and Special Mention in the animation category. TRT 7:22
Public Programs for The Plastic Bag Store:
More Art, Less Plastic: A Conversation with Innovative Environmentalists Around Art, Education, and Single-Use Plastics
Watch the panel discussion video online from June 30-July 11 here
In conjunction with the Los Angeles presentation of Robin Frohardt’s The Plastic Bag Store installation, we invite you discover two Los Angeles-based trailblazers in the battle against single-use plastics: Sheila Morovati, founder of Crayon Collection and Habits of Waste, and Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of 5 Gyres and LEAP LAB. Their organizations have helped to realize policy change through actions anchored in art and education.
This conversation will be moderated by Asuka Hisa, Director of Learning and Engagement, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA)
Puppet Making Workshops at ICA LA
Puppet-Making Workshop with Eli Presser
Friday, July 9 from 6-8pm
FREE
LEARN MORE
RSVP here
In conjunction with The Plastic Bag Store art installation by Robin Frohardt and presented in collaboration with UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, artist and master puppeteer Eli Presser will teach techniques to transform everyday plastic waste into imaginative puppet characters. Feel free to bring clean, single-use plastic items to add to the workshop supplies. 18 years and up. Space is limited. RSVP required.
Puppet-Making Workshop for Young People with Moira MacDonald
Saturday, July 10 from 3-5pm
FREE
LEARN MORE
RSVP here
In conjunction with The Plastic Bag Store art installation by Robin Frohardt and presented in collaboration with UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, artist and master puppeteer Moira MacDonald will teach techniques to transform everyday plastic waste into imaginative puppet characters. Feel free to bring clean, single-use plastic items to add to the workshop supplies. 6 years and up. Space is limited. RSVP required.
Public programs for The Plastic Bag Store are made possible through generous support from The Bar-Zemer Family and UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. Special thanks to Automata Arts for program partnership for the puppetry workshops.
The Plastic Bag Store is commissioned by Times Square Arts with generous support provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the National Endowment for the Arts; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional commissioning support has been provided by Carolina Performing Arts, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was developed with support from: MANA Contemporary, The Made in NY Women’s Film, TV & Theatre Fund by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts; Olson Kundig; The Jim Henson Foundation; and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). The Plastic Bag Store is a project of Creative Capital. The Plastic Bag Store film segments were commissioned by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance with additional support by the Adelaide Festival. Co-Produced by Robin Frohardt and Pomegranate Arts.