Plastic Encounters
Collaboration with Katrina Cobain
HD video with 35mm photos, 2025-6
In Plastic Encounters we find the artists Robert Carter and Katrina Cobain on location in Glasgow, rummaging through the Plastic Bag Museum’s archive. This personal collection of over 2,000 rare and historical bags forms the basis for a journey which sees them meet a fellow collector Tim Sumner and artist Tatiana Baskakova to discuss plastic heirlooms and the problem of nostalgia. The artists then travel to Norway, to consider the environmental impact of a material which breaks down into microplastics, the long term consequences of which remain largely unknown.
Soundtrack by Jenny Berger Myhre.
Supported by Creative Scotland, A-N, Arts Council Norway and the Norwegian Visual Arts Fund.
Protest bag from the late 1980s opposing the privatisation of London’s water which is currently owned by a Canadian pension fund and China’s biggest sovereign wealth fund
Trawling through Cobain’s archive which contain’s an estimated 3000 plastic bags amongst various pieces of correspondence
Kat and Rob travel to Liverpool to meet Tim Sumner, founder of the Paper Bag Archive
Nostalgia – The artists head to Southwold, visiting the ghosts of Robert’s childhood
Haunted – Robert posing Crystal Castles style in front of a George Orwell mural
