Multidisciplinary artist Robin Frohardt has taken part in two residencies at MASS MoCA: one in 2024 supporting a staging and performance of The Plastic Bag Store, and another in 2026 to develop the new work Shopping Center of the Universe. Both residencies showcase Frohardt’s commitment to utilizing what others deem as “trash” in order to create something beautiful, humorous, and thought-provoking.

The Plastic Bag Store, which ran at MASS MoCA from May 2024 through November 2024, is an immersive, multimedia experience that uses humor, craft, and a critical lens to question our culture of consumption and convenience — specifically, the enduring effects of single-use plastics. The shelves of the artist-created “bodega” are stocked with thousands of original, hand-sculpted items — produce and meat, dry goods and toiletries, cakes and sushi rolls — all made from discarded, single-use plastics in an endless cacophony of packaging.

Shopping Center of the Universe, which was developed performed as a work-in-progress at MASS MoCA in February 2026, is a live performance that blends puppetry, film, prose, and music to explore how the architecture of consumer culture shapes a person’s sense of self and relationship to nature. Onstage, intricately hand-built puppets and cardboard sets are animated live by performers in front of multiple cameras. The live feed is projected above them alongside narration and musical score, allowing the audience to experience both the raw mechanics and their cinematic expression simultaneously. Inspired by a real Home Depot parking lot from which Frohardt has been living across the street for 18 years, Shopping Center of the Universe asks: “If we think of a parking lot as a naturally occurring phenomenon, does that make us feel more like natural creatures? How do we reconcile the predicament of being born a soul in a body, raised in a Walmart?”