“The End of Pollution”: An Artistic Critique and Ethical Reflection on Pollution Control Technologies

With the accelerating pace of industrialization, environmental pollution has become increasingly prominent, particularly in the textile and garment industry, where organic dyes, heavy metals, and chemical auxiliaries generated during the dyeing process constitute major sources of water contamination. This study focuses on the environmental impact of wastewater from garment dyeing and examines a remediation approach that utilizes agricultural residues—such as rice straw—to produce activated carbon for pollutant adsorption, as well as the inherent paradoxes embedded within such a method. While activated carbon can effectively reduce pollutant concentrations in wastewater, the technique itself harbors an implicit issue of “pollution transfer.” Against this backdrop, the eco-installation artwork The End of Pollution materializes the ethical deficiencies of this remediation technology, rendering visible the complex ethical paradoxes in pollution control. The work employs a tripartite structure to probe the intrinsic connections among ecological crisis, technological concealment, and industrial logic, with the aim of provoking critical reflection on environmental technologies and the true efficacy of remediation practices.