The Plastic Bag Store, irony in the form of art

Everything you need but nothing actually for sale. It's art out of irony. "The Plastic Bag Store" art exhibit highlights the impact plastics are having on our society.

"I think people thought I was a little crazy at first which is probably accurate," says Robin Forhardt, the artist behind the exhibit.

"Yucky Shards", "Marlbag Lights" and Michigan's own "Baygo" pop are just a few of the items "for sale" at this store.

Frohardt was asking friends, family and anyone else for their plastic to create this seemingly normal grocery store, which isn't as normal as you may think when looking a bit closer. "I've got the idea, you know, just in a grocery store, watching someone bag and double bag. All my groceries that were already bags inside of boxes, inside of bags," Frohardt says when addressing the absurdity of how much packaging exists in grocery stores and our daily lives.

"I thought it would be funny to sort of turn that absurdity all the way up and create a grocery store that just sold packaging," she said.

The experience, to entertain and educate. Frohardt and the team who set up the exhibit include a show highlighting the long-term impacts plastic has on our community, environment and everyday life. She says the project was set to debut in March of 2020 in New York City at Times Square. A pandemic later, this exhibit has hit big cities across the country like Los Angeles, Austin and now in Ann Arbor.

"Took about four years to create the whole project. That includes the performance. We spent about a year creating all of the products inside, so finding the right colored bags and learning how to melt them or twist them or shape them or glue them into looking like the foods in a grocery," Frohardt said.