NANO (Jun 2015)
Trash as Trash as Art: Reflections on the Preservation and Destruction of Waste in Artistic Practice
Abstract
Trash as Trash as Art: Reflections on the Preservation and Destruction of Waste in Artistic Practice by Stacy Boldrick When the subject of an art work is trash as trash itself -- trash as waste product, either destroyed or preserved -- it can present a more compelling alternative to the celebratory recycling of trash as something other than itself in permanent figurative or abstract sculptures. Acts of destruction, from violent dismantling to slow decay, play critical roles in registering material objects as ephemeral and expendable things: destructive acts can defy objects’ material states. A consideration of significant moments in the history of trash and art made over the past fifty years addresses the work of artists for whom destruction and trash play key roles in their practice, such as Susan Hiller, Michael Landy, Gustav Metzger, Cornelia Parker and Dieter Roth and others. Personal reflections on Landy's 2012 Workshop on Destruction present new ways of conceptualizing discarded objects through making a self-destroying sculpture.
