You might be thinking what’s the damned point of us talking about natural resources and rubbish then? Everyone knows about recycling, about switching off the lights when nobody’s in, about not leaving the tap running while brushing our teeth, about taking a shower rather than using in a bathtub, about avoiding taking plastic bags from supermarkets and shops. We know everything—all those little things—don’t we? We know you spend more time calculating your calorie intake than counting how many pieces of rubbish you throw into a bin in a day. If that were the case, we’d love to share with you a few artsy things that have been created, a few ideas that have been begotten by some artists who are concerned about our frail nature and decaying environment. Perhaps, after reading this, you might become more aware of the causes and effects of your insignificant habit.

Art and our planet? Yes, it is almost customary that one would first consider art as reactionary endeavours to raise the public’s awareness, to help spare our planet, or even to reduce what we consider as wastes. “Garbage Art” - the concept that develops from ‘assemblage art’ - is the forefront of this artistic revolution that transforms trash into artistic compositions and calls for recycle and careful use of resources. Artists in this category re-formulate the physical and aesthetic relations between art and rubbish with human beings meddling between the two.

Tim Noble’s and Sue Webster’s “Trash Art” is the ultimate example of art in this category. In Dirty White Trash [with Gulls] 1998, the spotlight that beams across a seemingly big heap of household garbage turns the vile object into a wondrous silhouette of two men smoking and sipping wine, relaxing and enjoying themselves. It is an immediate attack to the exploitative world by using rubbish to reflect on wasteful, consumerist behaviours. In this respect, rubbish becomes more utilitarian, while art becomes more versatile.

HA Schult explores the similar idea about the interconnectedness between human beings, art and trash. More literally, Schult creates a massive troop of Trash People from crushed cans and computer parts. They have been trotting the globe from their hometown Cologne, to New York City, to the Great Wall of China. Schult’s work is, unlike Noble and Webster’s juxtaposition of hedonism and exploitation, haunting. Still, both are directly criticising human wasteful behaviour and attempt to create a shock, to draw us back to the reality and give us an exclusive peek into the future that is full of rubbish. “Garbage art” seems like a sensible, or more likely a natural, step in the environmental movement, while mere creative spray-painting on garbage challenges our perception of art and trash, blurring the distinction between the two.

Apart from artistically recycling the rubbish, artists also recycle nature to create shock effects—or rather, to inflict remorse - of what it would be like in the not-so-far-away future. Take Anya Gallaccio at the Barbican’s Radical Nature exhibition as an example. Gallaccio “worked closely with a tree surgeon to source a tree which was already destined to be fell. Once cut, the birch is here resembled in the gallery space.” The resurrected tree does look eerie, or to some, especially with the visible bolts and strings that hold it in place and the light so bright as if it were mocking the sun, Frankenstein-like. The birch is simple and effective - re-affirming the indefinite future we fear. Perhaps, one day, the green will be gone and the only way we can see a tree is in a gallery space.

The pseudo-reusing of nature is also the key element in works by Mark Dion and A12 (displayed at the same exhibition). Dion showcased a wolf on the trailer of its reconstructed natural habitat in Mobile Wilderness Unit - Wolf to re-tell a story of exploitation, of nature that is turned to commodities. A12 recreates the outdoor experience by encroaching a small green space resembling gardens in Britain’s stately homes with mirrors. Nature becomes illusion - a case study, a fake. All of this is thought-provoking but it’s also making us sad. Is there any way we can have a bit of fun while being concerned with our planet? Anyone?

Words: Poonperm Paitayawat
Photography: Karen Bleier and Lyndon Douglas