Today I spent part of the afternoon paging through binders of slides in the back of a Soho gallery, conducting background research for the next everydaytrash special event. Following on the success of Literary Trash—a week of interviews with trash authors that has blossomed into a semi-regular feature—will be Artistic Trash, a week of interviews with trash artists. You’re going to love it. Or hate it. Either way, I hope you let me know in the comments because you slackers really need to get more interactive.
artistic trash
Wednesday, April 4, 2007The Garbage of Galilee
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Looks like settlers in the Golon Heights won’t be enjoying their favorite beach this Passover season. According to an article in Haaretz, a dispute between the Israeli Land Administration (the government agency in charge of public properties comprising most of country) and the Golan Regional Council (the regional body that represents most of the settlers in Golan) has led to a massive garbage pile up. That’s quite an oversight for two agencies mandated with keeping track of land in a region where every last acre is disputed territory.
Weekly Compactor
Friday, March 30, 2007
This week in trash news:
- A new bill introduced in the house and the senate would put $50 million toward reducing the stink, gas emissions and water pollution caused by hog farms;
- Angy Mauritians debate plans to burn trash;
- Washingtonians work toward a trash-free Patomic;
- Americans contemplate making energy from Karachi trash while locals wonder what’s in it for them; and
- Scrap metal theives in Houston may be stealing trash cans for profit;
- A Long Island junk remover with a thing for the Beatles finds treasure in another man’s trash.
Plastic People
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
And speaking of trash people, fellow garblogger Ruby Re-Usable has been busy installing a collection of her own. Using an industrial roll of plastic wrap discarded by a local food co-op, the artist began by wrapping friends in plastic, added some tape and ended up with the lifelike and transluscent figures on view this month all over Olympia, Washington. A documentary of the installation project debuts locally tomorrow (I’ll let you know if I hear of other screenings).
What I love about this project is that, just like the flip-flop whale in Kenya, it takes something cast aside and turns it into something fun and beautiful for the community to enjoy. These whimsical plastic wrap people seem absolutely interactive—and without any bells, whistles, motors or gadgets.
They remind me of another favorite installation—the Stoker Project’s tape babies.
The Trash People
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Keith of The Temas Blog mentioned this world-roaming trash art show in a comment last week, but for those of you who may have missed it, check out these people sculptures made from recycled materials and photos of said trash armies installed around the world.
Romans seem to love The Trash People. The spectacle opened on the first day of Spring and has already received one million visitors. Yahoo! has a slide show.
“They don’t rot, they don’t break down and they float—forever.”
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Kenyan fishermen and the World Society for the Protection of Animals are building a giant whale sculpture out of the endless stream of discarded flip flops that get caught up in fishing nets. The partners hope the end product—pieced together with the help of local women who have long been recycling flip flops into local handicrafts to sell back to tourists—will serve as a massive pro-environment, anti-whaling symbol.
For updates and to sign a petition of your solidarity, check out Whale Watch.
Via the power combo of an everydaytrash tipster and the BBC online.
BBC multimedia on sewage floods in Gaza
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Yup, exactly the outfit I would have chosen
Monday, March 26, 2007
Too bad Naomi Campbell finished her community service so quickly. Stories centering around her inappropriate fashion choices for sanitation department community service last week were providing me such entertainment while dutifully googling trash, garbage, rubbage and solid waste each morning.
Today’s breaking news—that trash company manager Ciro Viento will plead guilty to racketeering—should fill the gossip void Ms. Campbell leaves, but the visuals aren’t nearly as ludicrous (credit the AP for the beautifully juxtaposed “sanitation” framing the supermodel’s bony shoulders in the shot above).
wet trash art
Monday, March 26, 2007
Hands down the best part about having a trash blog is that my weekly web searches lead me to other people out there doing similarly bizarre work on trash-related matters. And sometimes, when I’m very lucky, other trashies trolling the Internet stumble accross this site and contact me. Such was the case recently when I received a very nice note from the (not so) amateur photographer behind the wonderful new art garblog, Gutter Envy. So far the artist has posted three galleries of photos, all of wet trash encountered on the streets of New York.
Fry Power
Friday, March 23, 2007
Carl’s Jr. uses veggie oil collected from the fast food chain’s restaurants to run five of 20 corporate vehicles and plan to get the other 15 running on reused oil in the next few years. While this is good news and all, I’m not sure it cancels out the evil of 1) the existence of a fast food chain or 2) that nasty Paris Hilton add, let’s hope this serves as a model for other oil-chugging chains to think about closing the loop.
Is trash private?
Thursday, March 22, 2007
South Dakota’s highest court isn’t sure. Up for debate this week is whether or not cops have the right to root through our trash cans without reasonable suspicion that the waste creator in question has committed a crime. Personal privacy and the state’s right to limit it seem to be a hot topic in good ol’ SD.
Weekly Compactor
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Happy first day of Spring!
This week in trash news:
- As punishment for throwing her cell phone at her maid, Naomi Campbell must spend the week working for the department of sanitation;
- Also in New York, Polytechnic U develops ‘bioplastic’;
- The U.S.-Canadian trash war continues as a potential new law regulating Canuck dumping in Michegan clears committee; and
- South Africa opens its first rubbish-powered plant.
Back, though still jet lagged
Tuesday, March 20, 2007Meatier posts on the way. In the meantime…
Hong Kong trash
Monday, March 5, 2007
Hello from Hong Kong. The lovely YMCA here provides broadband in every room, so before my 24 hour Internet card wears off, I thought I’d post this photo from today’s jet lagged excursion to Central Hong Kong. Not much to report, trash-wise, though I do want to report on the long flight over. The kind flight attendants at Cathay Pacific ask each guest if s/he would like an eye shade instead of providing one in the little kit with toothbrush and travel socks. I’d like to believe this is to cut back on wasted materials. In honor of this, perhaps-minor-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things-though-still-noted-and-appreciated gesture, I plan to make myself a travel smock when I get home using my sizable-and-formerly-useless eye mask collection. Stay tuned for more Asian trash stories when I hit the main land…
Trash hiatus and substitution
Friday, March 2, 2007
From March 3rd through March 18th I’ll be in China chillin’ with the family, testing the accuracy of my definition of “Chinese food” and, because I can’t help it, taking pictures of trash and the people who move it, live in it and profit from it. Though I can’t promise regular posts from the People’s Republic, I can offer a much better solution: Kimberly!
For the next two weeks Chief Tipster Kimberly, prolific commenter, fellow journalist and now regular contributor to everydaytrash, will provide you with direct access to the many leads she emails me on a weekly basis. Expect less frequent but superior quality posts while I’m away.
Baai baai!
everydaytrash 