Artifacts of Accumulation

Directed by Carolien Schippers

As garbage becomes increasingly invisible in urban life, this short documentary draws attention to the material and spatial implications of modern waste systems – what we choose not to see, and what that says about the values and contradictions of contemporary life. In a careful observational style, this film visits six regional waste processing sites around Amsterdam, revealing how discarded matter travels through intricate systems of sorting, processing, transport and deposition. Effortlessly shifting between scales, from granular substances to territorial transformations, Artifacts of Accumulation invites us to reflect on the metabolism of cities and the reality of circular economies.