Operasi Plastik + Unconditional Design are two workshops that explore upcycling as a platform for reflecting on design across various categories of products/objects/items created in a grassroots manner. These designs aim to facilitate daily activities or address everyday challenges, emerging directly from what is in front of or around us, through processes of observation, awareness, sensitivity, social behaviour, culture, creativity, situations, and conditions.

Inspired by the Arabic-derived Indonesian/Malay term ‘Mubazir’, which refers wasting materials, time, food or money, the goal of the workshop is to transform plastic waste into functional and artistic objects. Using everyday, accessible tools such as household irons, participants learn simple techniques to reuse plastic and turn it into high-value items, including bags and pouches. Beyond the hands-on experience, the workshops introduce the principles of circular materials, sustainable design, and creative reuse, addressing environmental challenges through artistic practice while proposing alternatives to conventional waste management models.

The workshops are led by MG and Acip, part of the Jakarta-based collectives Gudskul and STUFFO GudRnD, that explore the potential of waste as a material, collaborative design, and circular economy practices.

The collectives bring their learning methodology to Barcelona by inviting twenty young people from Casal dels Infants del Raval to take part in Operasi Plastik + Unconditional Design. The workshops use the transformation of recycled plastic as a metaphor for identity formation: a continuous process of metamorphosis in which past, present, and future intertwine to shape new personal and collective narratives.

Aimed at young people navigating a period of transition and living across multiple cultures, languages, and experiences, the project understands art as a tool for activating memory, creating spaces for exchange, and exploring shared forms of belonging. The reuse of materials thus extends beyond its environmental dimension to become a symbolic gesture: just as plastic is given a new life, individual experiences are collectively transformed into a shared archive from which to imagine possible futures.