Designing Disappearance

On the Cultural and Affective Histories of Waste

“The gesture of throwing away is the first and indispensable condition of being,” notes Italo Calvino in his essay on the Paris garbage bin, written during his stay in the city from 1970 to 1974. Beginning with reflections on his relationship to garbage, Calvino delves into various aspects of his existence, presenting the ritual of taking out his trash not as a mundane task but…