Museo de la Basura
Transforming trash into art and awareness.
What is the Museo de la Basura?
Museo de la Basura is a long-term artistic and environmental initiative by Alejandro Durán that transforms plastic debris collected along the coast of Sian Ka’an into installations, exhibitions, films, and public encounters.
Developed over more than fifteen years, the project began with Washed Up, a photographic series in which international debris gathered from the shoreline was reassembled into interventions embedded within the coastal landscape.
Over time, the work expanded beyond photography into immersive installations, educational programming, community participation, and documentary filmmaking.
Each object carries traces of larger systems: tourism, trade, petrochemical production, migration, convenience culture, and the environmental consequences of mass consumption.
Participate
Museo de la Basura continues to grow through artistic production, environmental stewardship, educational programming, and public participation.
The project invites collaboration through exhibitions, workshops, beach cleanups, conversations, and community-based encounters shaped by the ongoing collection and transformation of debris gathered along the coastline of Sian Ka’an.
Each recovered object becomes part of a larger reflection on consumption, ecology, tourism, global circulation, and the environmental traces embedded within everyday life.
Future Vision
Museo de la Basura is evolving into a living platform for art, education, environmental reflection, and public participation.
Future iterations include immersive exhibitions, documentary filmmaking, workshops, community collaborations, and the long-term development of a museum shaped by the materials and stories carried to the shoreline.
Rooted in Sian Ka’an and connected to global systems of consumption, the project creates new forms of encounter between people, place, waste, and imagination.
