The celebrated material drew criticism for the first time. Artists who were members of Nouveau Réalisme expressed their wariness and unease by collecting mass-produced objects. Reliefs were made out of broken toys, assemblages out of household trash, shavers and disassembled telephones were cast in resin. The artworks were conceived as documenting the traces of a tarnished life and at the same time wanted to highlight the ugliness of the used products. The material of the disposable society thus became useful one last time: as a working material for art.