A performance art piece for the Figment Festival June 2010 New York City.
Title: Bodies of Trash on Bodies of Water
The oceans of the world are being choked in trash discarded by careless people. This exhibit is designed to raise awareness about trash in the sea with a disturbing and stimulating sight of floating bodies along with piles of trash that was actually removed from the water. There will be two distinct components to the work.
Land/Sculpture Component:
Trash recovered from the harbor will be incorporated into ad-hoc, impromptu sculpture exhibits by the artists. The general public will be encouraged to make their own sculptures or add to the existing sculptures. Through interacting with the trash, participants will relate to the items; through recognizing common consumer items that they have used throughout their lives, they will realize their possible role in contributing to the trash in local waterways and, by extension, consider their responsibility as consumers to limit their contribution to this problem.
Assorted trash removed from the ocean will be available for the sculptures. All items will be safe for people to handle. Trash will be made free of sharp items, food items, and unhygienic materials. Most trash brought in for the piece will be plastic or foam in origin such as bottles, toys, ropes, buoys, and shoes. A huge amount of strange objects can be found on a casual beachwalk. A recent beach trash performance featured a mobile made from a duck decoy body, with a doll’s head and arms, suspended by rope from a lobster pot, with a pendant made from a child’s game. (see picture).
All of the artwork will be created from actual trash found in the ocean and brought to the island. At the end of the performance all of the trash will be removed to be buried in landfills.
Water/Performance Component:
A floating community of bodies will be towed by kayaks in the water, the bodies can be viewed from the walkway/bikepath that surrounds the island.
The bodies will consist of discarded clothes that are stuffed with floating trash and objects collected from the
The bodies will be tightly sown shut, with just a 2-liter bottle or Lobster Float for a head. No new trash will be introduced to the water and at the end of the exhibit all of the bodies will be interred in a landfill in a non-denominational ceremony.
Volunteer expert kayakers will tow the bodies around. Nothing will be anchored or left to drift in the water. A certified professional kayak guide will be on hand at all times to supervise.
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