About this Event
Mottainai もったいない: An Exhibition by Seiya Abe-Bell
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 6:00 PM
On view: November 13, 2026 - January 10, 2027
Harnessing this sentiment to inform his approach to material, interdisciplinary artist Seiya Abe-Bell transmutes plastics and other “waste” objects into installations and wearables activated through performance. Abe-Bell constructs this textural environment to navigate the complex relationship between body, waste, and consumption. Gesturing toward the incongruity within the little value plastics seem to hold despite our collective reliance on them.
Through braiding, binding, sewing, movement, and sound, the exhibition excavates the not-so-invisible plastic terraformation of Earth. Wielding artistic practice to reflect on the accumulation of plastics and toxins. From the carcinogenic and other toxic byproducts released during the synthesis of plastics. The leaching of degrading plastics into our air and soil. To the macro- and microplastics making their way into water supplies and food chains, contaminating entire ecosystems.
Presented as part of Japan in Practice, a rotating exhibition series at the International Museum of Surgical Science
Artist Statement/Bio:
Seiya Abe-Bell is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist. Creating wearables, textile prints, and performances. His work positions residues of modernization in contention with nature reasserting itself, and navigates petrochemical entanglements by shaping plastics and other limited-use objects to the body. He wields his practice in pursuit of autonomy under industries of control within the built environment.
Abe-Bell received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Illinois at Chicago in 2024. His work has been exhibited in Consumed at Rutgers University in 2026, Switching Costs at The Chicago Cultural Center in 2025, and his BFA thesis show TRANSIENCE at UIC in 2024. He has also curated and exhibited in several community art shows hosted by the YahYah collective.
Event venue & nearby stays
International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, United States
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