The Challenge
Plastic takes centuries to disappear. And Wilson, the volleyball from Cast Away, is 80% plastic. So, what if he’s still out there, drifting through the ocean for 450 years? The Odyssey of Wilson began with that question. In partnership with Vivo and UNESCO, and with support from climatologists at the Onda Azul Institute, the project simulates Wilson’s journey from the moment he was lost at sea in 2000 until the year 2450, when he finally breaks down into microplastics. To bring this speculative odyssey to life, we combined hundreds of real data points, including ocean currents, wind patterns, plastic degradation timelines, and climate projections. The result is an interactive platform that turns science into story, tracing Wilson’s imagined drift through major environmental events—both current and predicted. Launched as an awareness tool for the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, the project transformed a pop culture icon into a time-traveling metaphor for plastic’s permanence.
The Solution
We turned Wilson into a vessel for environmental storytelling. By combining pop culture with hard science, The Odyssey of Wilson reframes plastic pollution through an unexpected lens. We integrated oceanographic models, wind patterns, plastic degradation timelines, and climate projections to simulate his 450-year journey—transforming real environmental data into a time-traveling, character-driven narrative. It’s not just a visualization of data; it’s a dramatization. Each year reveals what Wilson “sees”: oil spills, coral bleaching, sea-level rise, and even future marine extinctions. It’s a new way of using scientific data—not just to inform, but to move. By transcending the format of an infographic or campaign site, the work bridges storytelling, science, and activism in a way that captivates, provokes, and inspires action.
