Respectful Disposal: Industrial Incineration as a Final Disposition Method
23 April 2026
Mark Shtanov has been successful in securing the ECR Ideas Catalyst Fund to exhibit artworks from his PhD research on industrial disposal of anatomical waste.
Donated bodies, imported into the UK for biomedical research, ultimately reach industrial incinerators - but who performs this disposal work, and how?
Building on Mark’s PhD work, Respectful Disposal explores the overlooked intersection of biomedicine and waste infrastructure through large format drawings and three-dimensional objects. Zooming into infrastructural rituals through an architectural lens, the exhibition asks broader questions: How do people become materially disposable? What infrastructural labour does our healthcare system depend upon?
For more information about the research, please watch the online talk: