"Museum of Damage": A traveling project to showcase the waste we leave in the sea

In the province of Caserta, everyone knows Vincenzo Ammaliato, an environmental activist and organizer of projects to protect the Domitian coast, a place severely degraded by pollution, real estate speculation, and even the waste that accumulates on the shoreline and in the sea. Vincenza, in addition to being an environmental activist, is also an art enthusiast. So while he coordinates the activities of volunteers who clean the area's public beaches, often not managed by public authorities, and recovers beached waste (plastic, tires, toys, appliances, etc.), he has launched a traveling museum project, where the garbage collected from the sea is provocatively displayed as a sequence of art installations.

The project is called “Museo del Danno” and was born from the collaboration between the Domizia Association and the Diana Foundation : a travelling collection (sometimes exhibited in exhibitions or events) in which beached waste and polluting materials found on the coasts of the Domitian coast (between Campania and Caserta) are collected and transformed into real “works” or “finds”.

The idea is mainly used to:

raise awareness aboutmarine pollution and waste at sea (marine litter)
concretely show what ends up on beaches (plastic, toys, tires, household objects, etc.)
make you reflect on the fact that many of these wastes do not only come from bathers, but also from poor upstream disposal (rivers, industrial and domestic activities)

The concept is that of a "museum in reverse": instead of precious objects, it displays the real environmental "damage" that man causes, transforming it into an educational and artistic tool. And so far, with the "Follow Me" project, 150 students have been involved in environmental education programs throughout the area.