Waste, garbage, surplus. Art and cultural imaginaries in the age of hyperconsumption.
Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Thursday, November 12, 2026.
University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Friday, November 13, 2026.
Waste, garbage, and surplus are concrete manifestations of the logic of the residual, understood as symbolic, political, and economic operations that determine what is left out of place, devalued, and rendered invisible.
Mass consumer society generates garbage at an exponential rate and on a global scale. In a world driven by the production of objects with a perishable utility or, in the worst cases, with no specific functionality, there is no place without waste—domestic, industrial, digital, technological, nuclear, chemical, textile, etc. From the outskirts of large cities, particularly those in the global South, to the most remote places on the planet, landscapes of waste emerge, the result of inequalities, violence, and injustices of all kinds. This accumulation of waste on an unprecedented scale includes precarious, marginalized, and discarded bodies.
The experience of this ubiquitous reality leads us to question our relationship with the world of which we are a part, and to reflect critically on the social, political, and symbolic effects of the systemic crisis of our hyper-consumerist society, where accumulation and surplus are two sides of the same coin.
The conference aims to problematize the ambiguous and complex relationship we have with the waste we generate and its consequences. It also aims to analyze how material and symbolic surplus is produced, consumed, and made invisible in the era of mass consumption. To this end, it will address contemporary artistic practices and the responses they propose to the materiality of waste and its political and aesthetic significance. Contemporary art, design, and cultural imaginaries offer a privileged vantage point from which to examine these interrelated processes of ecosystem crisis, globalization and sustainability, climate emergency, and social inequalities. Through various critical and creative modalities, they have incorporated all kinds of discarded materials into their works, proposing new forms of criticism of the logic of planned obsolescence and the culture of disposal. Through the symbolic creation of art and culture in general, the hidden or repressed relationships that our society establishes with what it has declared useless and disposable return to the realm of the visible and the representable.
We invite you to explore artistic works and practices involving recycled materials, garbage, or waste, as well as theoretical approaches such as new materialism, relational aesthetics, and criticism of late capitalism. Ultimately, we aim to discuss the cultural, political, and epistemological implications of these practices, their limits and potentialities, taking into account curatorial and educational recommendations for the future.
The conference invites cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary reflection from the fields of art and design, cultural and material studies, ecological humanities, anthropology, and philosophy, among others, to address a multifaceted phenomenon that none of them can encompass on their own. Its relevance lies in its ability to articulate knowledge, thought, and practice at a time when rethinking our relationship with waste and surplus is an indispensable condition for imagining more sustainable and just futures.
The conference will take place over two days: at Pompeu Fabra University, UPF (November 12, Department of Humanities), and at the University of Barcelona, UB (November 13, Department of Art History). Each day will consist of morning (9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.) and afternoon (3:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.) sessions, with 20-minute (max.) presentations followed by a roundtable discussion.
The sessions will be structured around the following themes:
a) Waste as a cultural, political, and epistemological category
b) Political imagination and artistic practices of waste
c) Economy, object, and aesthetics of waste
d) Repair, reuse, and ethics of responsibility
Researchers, artists, curators, and professionals in related fields are invited to submit proposals for presentations. Proposals should explore artistic practices related to waste, surplus, and their imaginaries, including (but not limited to) the following topics:
1. Aesthetics of trash, throwaway culture, and material turn
2. Waste between circulations, resignifications, and value production
3. Trash as commodity, fetish, relic, or fossil
4. Politics of visibility: the visible, the representable, the erased
5. Colonial waste and geographies of the global landfill
6. Expired materialities and disposable bodies: precariousness, exclusion, and human waste
7. Visual narratives of collapse and residual futures
8. Fashion, textile surpluses, and new aesthetics of repair
9. Obsolete technologies and digital ruins
10. Curatorial and museographic practices of waste
Proposals must include:
– Title of the paper
– Abstract (no more than 500 words)
– 5 keywords
– Brief biographical note (no more than 100 words) with institutional affiliation (if applicable)
Proposals will be accepted in Spanish and English.
Presentations will last no more than 20 minutes and will be followed by a group discussion.
Proposals should be sent in a single file (Word) in Spanish or English to the following two email addresses: isabel.valverde@upf.edu, and sergi.castella@upf.edu, indicating in the subject line: 2026_Waste_Conference.
Deadline for receipt: May 15, 2026
Notification of acceptance: June 5, 2026
Scientific Committee:
Anna Guasch (UB), Marti Perán (UB), Enric Puig (Centre d´Art Santa Mònica), Claudia Segura (MACBA), Pol Capdevilla (UPF), Nausikaa El-Mecky (UPF), Júlia Lull (UPF)
For any questions, please contact the organizing committee at Isabel.valverde@upf.edu or sergi.castella@upf.edu.
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Bibliografía / Bibliography
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Boetzkes, Amanda. Plastic Capitalism: Contemporary Art and the Drive to Waste. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2019.
Bourriaud, Nicolas. L’exforme: art, idéologie et rejet. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2017.
Calavia, Oscar. Basura. Ensayo sobre la civilización del desecho. Logroño: Pepitas de Calabaza, 2020.
Cohen, William A. y Johnson, Ryan. Filth: dirt, disgust, and modern life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005
Corvellec, Hervé, (ed.). Waste as a Critique. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025.
Davies, Heather. Plastic Matter. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022.
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Hüsch, Anette (ed.). From trash to treasure: vom Wert des Wertlosen in der Kunst. Bielefeld: Kerber, 2011.
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