About

The Place Called Away is an immersive storytelling project that poses a simple but powerful question: What really happens when we throw something “away”? Through the Still Here installation, a short film, replication field guide, and a story for all ages, the project is designed to reveal that there is no true “away”, only systems we’ve forgotten to see. Blending art, education, and imagination, it invites curiosity, responsibility, and care, helping people understand our connected material world and imagine more thoughtful ways forward.

The Place Called Away is an evolving body of work. Some elements described here are currently in development, and images or stories may represent proposed or forthcoming work.

What are the elements of The Place Called Away ?

The Place Called Away will be supported by an ecosystem of tools and stories designed to help people explore what happens to our stuff after we throw it “away”, and what it means to imagine a better system.

  • Still Here is a forthcoming immersive installation that invites people to slow down and look more closely at what we leave behind. By tracing the material, environmental, and human stories attached to discarded objects, the installation challenges the myth of “away” and makes visible the systems that continue long after something is thrown out.

  • The Still Here Replication Field Guide
    A practical guide in development designed to help communities and educators replicate the Still Here experience locally. The guide shares lessons learned, prompts for discussion, and pathways for exploring waste, value, responsibility, and care in your own place.

  • A short Circular Economy video
    Inspired by the approachable, animated style of The Story of Stuff, this video will introduce people of all ages to the core ideas of the Circular Economy, showing that there really is no “away,” and that materials and responsibility all continue. It will serve as an easy on‑ramp to the concepts behind The Place Called Away.

  • A Place Called Away… That Wasn’t children’s book
    Currently in development, this children’s book uses imagination and curiosity to introduce big ideas about waste, responsibility, and care. Written for young children and the adults reading with them, it offers a way to begin early conversations about consumption and the world we share.

Together, these pieces are designed to extend the installation into classrooms, conversations, and homes, turning The Place Called Away from a place you visit into an idea you carry with you.