Piecing together the message of recycling

A girl playing inside Museo Aero Solar, a large artwork made up of over 500 plastic bags.

The balloon-like installation, launched by the ArtScience Museum at Marina Barrage last Saturday, is the culmination of a four-month community outreach project which started with the opening of the museum's Floating Utopias exhibition. Visitors were encouraged to contribute old plastic bags and help put the artwork together at the museum. The idea for the project was initiated more than eight years ago during a series of conversations between Argentinian contemporary artist Tomas Saraceno and writer Alberto Pesavento.

The project invites and relies on the participation of local communities to turn used plastic bags into art.

Different iterations of Museo Aero Solar have been launched in countries such as Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States.