Degradable Story
Written by Sinistra Pan in 2023. Published by unpress in 2025.
A recyclable poem, 3D printed in Polylactic Acid (PLA).
Degradable Story interrogates the commodification of environmental protection through material and form. The work comprises eleven 3D-printed pages (60mm × 45mm × 0.6mm) bound by a single 3D-printed ring (12mm × 12mm × 2.0mm).
The text inscribed within reads:
——
I am a book of poems
a tale to be told
meant to be read
and meant to be thrown
I live in your hands
your heart
your space
Degradable stories
leaving nary a trace
——
The project began with a doubt. As Sinistra recycled the waste of 3D prints into the recycling bin, he was reminded of the black hole in Shinichi Hoshi’s “Can Anyone Hear Me?”—a void believed to erase all trash, allowing people to produce more waste without guilt, until one day the trash began to return.
This image lingered. He began to question the promise behind the eco-friendly label: was it purely for earth, or merely a way to comfort people and sustain the market’s appetite?
Each copy of Degradable Story is produced using leftover filament from the end of each spool. As a result, the color of every copy is unpredictable and never fixed.
