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On February 19, 2014, in the Italian city of Bari, a cleaning lady in the lobby of the Murat Hotel, having taken some of the exhibits of the exhibition that had opened there, threw them away. It turned out that the items made of paper and cardboard that she threw away, as well as cookie crumbs, cost about 10 thousand euros. Babr offers to get acquainted with the art objects of contemporary art, which were created using objects that are usually considered garbage.
Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Husband and wife who became a very famous art duo in Britain. Tim and Sue are masters of chiaroscuro, they create their very unusual installations from ordinary garbage, but when projected onto a wall, this garbage turns into real paintings. Tim and Sue are followers of the Dutchman Diet Wiegman, who began his experiments with light and shadow back in the eighties of the last century.
It's hard to believe it's not photoshop. Empty tin cans, cigarette packs, a wooden table and a spotlight are what you need to create a shadow of Manhattan
Wooden figures arranged in the correct order give an unexpected result.
It takes several months of painstaking work to create such a project.
Brooklyn photographer Barry Rosenthal calls himself a life-time collector. As a child, he collected baseball cards (a popular hobby in the US). Adult Barry collects frying pans, clocks, carousel horses and... things he finds on the beaches.
According to the photographer himself, by organizing garbage items into collages, he gives more value to familiar objects. And although there is an obvious association between his works and the environmental problems of environmental pollution and garbage, the author does not see his mission in making the viewer think about ecology. “I show what I find, and people are free to interpret for themselves, but I just want to say: why shouldn't we be more attentive to things? Why don't we clean up our own garage?"
Balls
The second life of game balls
Reviving canisters from technical fluids
Before taking a photo, the artist works with each object: washes, cleans, changes shape
Sculptor from Portland A welding virtuoso, he transforms hundreds of discarded nuts, bolts, door hinges into figures of dogs, birds, and even life-size replicas of Gibson electric guitars. Mock says of his work: "I'm intrigued by the challenge of creating completely unique pieces out of unwanted, discarded objects. I love my job, and the ability to give these old objects new, extraordinary life in the form of an artistically complex sculpture makes this work even more enjoyable. Seeing my sculptures, viewers question the reality of what they see. Audience reaction is the fuel of my work."
Part of the Pisces project
This and many other things last weekend were taught to children and adults by teachers of the FSBEI HPE “Moscow State Academy of Art and Industry named after A.I. S. G. Stroganov.
Art from everyday life
"Artistic glass workshops" already sounds promising, as the beginning of a magical story. She was told on Saturday in Stroganovka. And they didn’t just tell, but let them write its new chapters themselves, feel like real creators of beauty. And already from what happened, a spontaneous exhibition was arranged in the courtyard of the academy. Art objects of different sizes, complexity, made in different techniques by "artists" of different ages - this is how significant and beautiful the result of the "Eco-Glass - Art from Everyday" turned out to be.
In any big city, not to mention Moscow, the word "ecology" always sounds next to the word "problem". Yulia Merzlikina, Head of the Department of Artistic Glass, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Candidate of Art History, told the children and their parents how little we think that tons of the most ordinary household waste can not only get a second life, but become an object art. Usually used glass bottles, jars, light bulbs turn into mountains of garbage. But the wizards of Stroganovka see precious material in every fragment. Absolutely everything - from a glass bottle to an old kinescope - turns into conceptual art objects, urban sculpture, installations and decor items that can decorate the most sophisticated interior.
Glass containers? Art object! Photo: AIF / Igor Kharitonov
Repeat it at home
The guests of Stroganovka were divided into groups and dispersed into workshops, some of whose names are intriguing: sintering glass, stained glass, diamond cutting, sand-blasting, painting ... I want to try myself everywhere! Something, of course, can only be done here, with the help of special tools and devices, and something - at home, giving a second life to what is about to end up in the trash. How easy it is to take an empty jar from under some pickled cucumbers, wash, dry and stick on top the most bizarre pattern of multi-colored glass left over from the repair of small tiles or mirror fragments! Get an exclusive container for small things. Well, what if you find a colored bottle, wrap it with thin tape and paint it with acrylic paint? Acrylic dries quickly, so a great vase came out.
In Stroganovka, however, they did things more complicated: “striped” bottles were put on a giant metal “stem” prepared in advance and the head of a “flower”. Fixed, painted - and installed a giant flower in the yard of the academy.
Diamond engraving: when simple glass becomes refined. Photo: AIF / Igor Kharitonov
glass baking
The glass sintering workshop impressed me from the first sight and the first step. Because they immediately catch the eye - flat, multi-colored, unlike themselves. These are wine bottles melted in the oven: they have not lost their shape, but the volume has already been. Ropes are fused into the necks, which means that all this will become one big installation ... Meanwhile, the guys are creating their own art: those who are smaller lay out flowers from already cut glass strips. The older ones do it in an adult way: they draw sketches, lay out complex compositions made of glass of various types. All this will go into one of the three furnaces, heat up to 700+ degrees and turn into something amazing, unexpected and, as teenagers say, cool.
On the shelves, walls, window sills - the work of students. Here is a brown bottle twisted into a knot, and the Gorgon Medusa - also a glass container in a past life, and iridescent "fossils" ... The teacher talks about how and from what the students prepare "glass pastries". Everyone is especially struck by the large transparent wings - each of them clearly occupied the whole furnace ... The color of the glass is a separate story. Greenish is window; transparent, brown, blue, green - all bottles. And the gray, the rarest, is from an old TV. If you have one, bring a kinescope to Stroganovka, here they will only thank you!
“Something you baked, guys!” - I want to say, looking into the glass oven. Photo: AIF / Igor Kharitonov
sandblast selfie
Olga Chistyakova, associate professor, member of the Union of Designers of the Russian Federation, is in trend. Her wards are making an installation of a cut mirror and 0.33-liter bottles, which for some reason turned out to be fixed upside down. “It's a haircut. Finished, hang at our exhibition. You come up, you see your face, and it’s like you have such a miracle on your head. And take selfies! she says. Olga Anatolyevna has a lot of ideas for selfies. Here, for example, is a large glass covered with two layers of special paper - the guys diligently cut out maple leaves, glue the veins. “Then,” explains Olga Anatolyevna, “we will process it in a sandblasting workshop and paint it. There will be not only dullness, but also relief. And here we will install the bottles as legs. Get a table. On it - a vase with an autumn bouquet. Can you imagine what kind of selfie will come out?
She shows the work of her students, explains with inspiration how glass is removed layer by layer, how a diamond face is made ... “And where do all these beautiful bottles come from?” I ask. "You will not believe! - answers Olga Chistyakova. - Yesterday I went to several bars with an unusual request. So they gave me glass containers ... You can’t imagine what kind of alcoholic amber I had in my car ... Then we washed everything: okay, the labels easily come off under hot water, but the traces of glue - I had to sweat here. That's really true: to know what kind of litter flowers grow from!
At the tip of a metal rod - that's where the magic of the glass blower is concentrated. Photo: AIF / Igor Kharitonov
Breath of summer
The work of an artist, designer is a colossal work. It was impossible not to notice this for all those who tried their hand at the art of creating a stained-glass window. All that was needed was to grind four colored glasses, pick up a round center (by the way, these were the bottoms of bottles), paste over the glass parts around the edges with copper foil tape and fold everything into an even square. It wasn't there! Out of habit, there were gaps between the parts, but Sergey Esipov, master of the 1st category able to fix everything. He soldered the pieces with tin solder on both sides and corrected me: “No, this is not a stained glass in the Tiffany technique. The stained-glass window is flat. It will be a voluminous art object!”
The younger schoolchildren made bumblebees, dragonflies and bees out of small jars, vials and bottles, which are usually put in a mini-bar in a hotel - copper foil, solder and glass wings that the guys made in a glass workshop also helped. Dragonflies scattered around the workshop - as if in the summer it blew ... “Guys, do not forget to wash your hands well,” reminds Sergey. “You did work with acid!”
730 Celsius
Oh, and the profession of a glassblower is not easy! But what beautiful things you can create ... The guys are waiting for their turn to the gas burners. Their task seems to be simple: melt a piece of glass, and then form a butterfly wing out of it. However, even to give the fragments the state of plasticine is not easy. “You warm glass, not a metal rod,” instructs a guy of about twelve Dmitry Untevsky, master glassblower of the 1st category, - otherwise the glass will not “melt” yet, and the metal will already heat up. Yes, like this, move it, move it ... "" Gas burners here are small, - Dmitry explains, - and you need only 730-750 degrees Celsius, it is within these boundaries that the glass becomes plastic, but does not "flow".
At the next table Galina Krivolapova, senior lecturer, member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation, shows how to flatten a burning glass lump so that it looks like a winglet. “Well,” says Galina Anatolyevna, when the “spare part” of the art object is ready, “now when you look at the bottle you will see a butterfly!” “The expression “butterflies flutter in the stomach” takes on a new meaning,” adults laugh, watching the success of their offspring.
If the light bulb burned out, it's time to become a masterpiece! Photo: AIF / Igor Kharitonov
Lamp as an art object
While I wandered around the workshops of the Stroganovka, admiring the works of big and small, I could not decide: did I do well not taking my own kindergarten children with me? Still, breaking glass with special tongs, gluing pieces of a mirror and cutting it out with a paper knife is a rather responsible matter. But it turned out that anyone can find something to do here - both a clever high school student who studies at an art school and, perhaps, already sees himself as an academy student, and a kid who has only recently mastered the brush. In the painting workshop, the youngest visitors to the Ecoglass Forum were painting burnt-out light bulbs with might and main. It turns out that with a little imagination, this seemingly useless item can become a unique designer Christmas tree toy! The teacher only showed the children samples of ornaments, and they turned on their imagination and began to make bold strokes ... How little is needed for each of us to start protecting the environment in our own way and fill this world with big and small eco-masterpieces!
With eco-artist Guzel Amirova, I learned why and why she creates art objects from waste, how it can save the planet from pollution, and whether the city needs a full-fledged recycling museum.
The second life of plastic bottles
For seven years now I have been engaged in artistic art cycling (this is a reasonable use of resources and the creative transformation of things), as I am sure that this direction will one day help humanity solve the global problems associated with the pollution of our planet. For example, it can draw attention to the reuse of waste and to the use of materials in creativity that cannot yet be recycled. It was the last aspect - the possibility of recycling - that once interested me: for the first time, I thought about artcycling on the polluted coast of the Black Sea.
One evening I was sitting on the beach with my friends, we were chatting and having fun. Suddenly I looked around and saw that there was a lot of garbage and glass bottles on the shore and near the water itself. At that moment, something seemed to click in me, and I felt unity with the sea and a reproach from him. After all, it treats us with all its heart: it pumps on its own waves, gives good impressions and relaxation, and we throw the waste of civilization into the water. Then I got up and just started cleaning the shore. At the same time, since childhood, I have been a very creative person - I have always been interested in creating some things and crafts with my own hands. And when I collected all the bottles from the beach, I immediately thought that they could be used again. Inspired by this idea, I bought some decorations, glued seashells from the beach on the vessels, sprinkled everything with a golden spray and gave the resulting souvenirs to the workers of the sanatorium. I returned to St. Petersburg with the thought that I wanted to continue such an artistic and nature-beneficial activity. Then, in 2011, colored plastic bottles were just being mass-produced, and I began to work actively with them. First, she created jewelry and small souvenirs from them: she cut out petals from plastic, changed their shape with the help of candle fire, and then added beads and put everything on a twisted plastic thread. The flow of ideas was inexhaustible, and soon I began to make practical things in everyday life, such as lamps. By the way, my sharp passion for creativity from recycled materials seriously surprised my friends. However, over time, they appreciated my perseverance and began to help: support ideas and new projects, bring washed bottles of rare colors and join the separate collection of waste.
First recycled exhibition
A few months after that cleaning on the seashore, I held the first exhibition in my apartment, where I invited everyone interested, including environmental activists from St. Petersburg. That's how I met Denis Stark, the founder of the public movement "Garbage. More. No." Thanks to his project, I realized that the problem of waste and environmental pollution is very global and concerns literally every person on earth. Since then, my task has been to convey to people that plastic is not only garbage, but also a valuable resource that can be used for an extremely long time. Namely: up to seven times in food production, after - in industrial and technical. It is difficult for people who have not previously encountered this issue to realize this, but when they see my work live, they understand that any discarded bottle can become part of creative self-expression without harming marine life and the environment. Moreover, it is universal, and its life does not end after a single use. Therefore, it is fundamentally important for me to work with discarded materials - this is the only way to attract people to waste sorting and reusable resources.
An angel made of plastic and a rock musician made of film
My first large-scale work was an angel with a globe in his hands (it took about 300 bottles and one globe to create it). I made a frame out of plastic, and then I sculpted the statue using the extension technique - I created volumes with plastic ribbons. At the same time, all the work was done without a drop of glue - plastic has a unique property of adhesion when the temperature rises. By the way, this sculpture has become at the same time a solid recyclable material - it can be completely recycled. But in another work - a statue of a musician for a rock festival - I made a face out of stretch film, which the movers threw on the road right in front of me. By the way, it, unlike bottles, is not recycled.
Of course, collecting garbage even for creativity is an unpleasant and dirty job, and I, a medical doctor by training, am very scrupulous about this. I soak all bottles and other recyclables in a bucket and wash thoroughly. And although from year to year I ask myself how much longer I will collect materials from the street, I still continue to do this, and even when I travel I look for beautiful bottles. So, for example, from Thailand I brought half a suitcase of amazing purple bottles, which are not found in St. Petersburg. However, lately I have been working with materials that are not accepted for recycling. For example, with rivets from bakery products. They contain both metal and plastic, even eco-activists do not know what to do with them. Therefore, many people in the city collect this material for me through libraries and schools - I weave panels from rivets. Judging by the activity of the townspeople, its size will be at least five meters. I also plan to make something from pressed product substrates - this type of foam is also not accepted anywhere yet.
The future of the planet and the recycling museum
Now I am on a big journey: I moved from Thailand to Armenia, and from there to Georgia. And in all these countries, unfortunately, I meet a lot of garbage. In Pattaya, for example, the beaches and the ocean are so dirty that vacationers go swimming on a tiny island nearby. In Armenia and Georgia, there are many bottles, bags and other packages on the roadsides among the mountains and flowering apricots. In addition, these two countries do not yet have a separate waste collection system, and the turnover of disposable materials is growing every year. I think with horror what this attitude towards garbage will lead to in the near future.
Unlike other countries and small towns in Russia, in St. Petersburg you can easily live according to European standards thanks to city environmental programs, social movements, activists and their huge daily work. Of course, many citizens are still conservative in this matter, while others simply lack information and environmental education. Therefore, I dream of opening a museum of recycling and art recycling in St. Petersburg. To do this, I believe, we need the help of the state - such a project is not feasible on one voluntary basis. This museum could tell people how the plastic bottle was invented, show the whole cycle of its production and the possibilities of further processing (you can even make filler for a jacket or pillow from it, and most people don’t know anything about it!). After visiting such a place, many would have a desire to separate waste collection and hand over materials for recycling.
Text: S. Chernyakova / City +
Garbage becomes the driving force of art - this is a fact. Today, artists do not need an easel and the privacy of a studio - sometimes broken floppy disks and an old can of paint are enough for them. Disused things are now used in the work of contemporary authors. We want to tell you more about each art form - non-standard, new and progressive. By the way, you can see exhibits in all these areas at the MU MU Garbage Museum.
Street art
Let's start with perhaps the most famous type of contemporary art - street art. Literally translated (from English street art) this word means "street art". New York is considered to be the birthplace of street art - it was there that the first artists appeared who picked up a spray can. There is a legend that the first street art in the form of graffiti appeared in 1942, during World War II, when an unknown worker named Kilroy got bored and began to write "Kilroy was here" ("Kilroy was here") on every box with bombs that were produced at a factory in Detroit. The soldiers liked this idea - and they began to copy the signature on the walls that had survived the bombing in Europe.
However, what is interesting is that the first thoughts about street art appeared three decades before the Second World War. You will never guess from whom - from the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky himself! He, along with other Russian futurists, in 1918 came up with and issued Decree No. 1 “On the democratization of the arts (fence literature and square painting)”, which read:
"Artists and writers are obliged to immediately take pots of paints and brushes of their skill to illuminate, paint all the sides, foreheads and chests of cities, stations and ever-running flocks of railway cars."
- it seems that Mayakovsky foresaw the future!
Today, street art refers to any art created on the street and within the street. In the broadest sense, it includes graffiti - inscriptions and drawings on the walls, stencils, sticker art, posters, video projections, flash mobs and street installations. Some suggest that street musicians also belong to street art.
The canvas for artists in street art is literally the whole world: the walls of houses, roofs, wagons - in a word, any surface where something can be depicted. And not only on a flat surface, but also in volume, in the form of large-scale installations from improvised means.
One of the most famous street artists of our time is the elusive Briton Banksy. His drawings can be found all over the world, but no one has yet seen his true face. Of the Russian artists, it is worth highlighting Timofey Radyu - he is famous for his unusual and topical works, often associated with political events. But there is not always a place for politics in art: sometimes Radya switches to completely cozy things - for example, he already hung a “grandmother's” carpet at a city bus stop and decorated street lamps in his native Yekaterinburg with home lampshades.
Another Russian street art artist and just an urban romantic, Kirill Kto is famous for his impressive inscriptions in bright colors:
An interesting observation: both Banksy and Kirill Kto are pseudonyms. Most street art artists - both professional and new - hide under made-up names. Perhaps this is because in the mind of an ordinary person, street art is on the verge of vandalism. This is the case when you sometimes have to get off with fines for art.
Today, street art is recognized not just as art, but as an independent social phenomenon. Taking a can of paint in his hands, the artist speaks in his works about what excites society - and what is unlikely to be written in official newspapers. High-quality street art is not a hooligan trick, but a dialogue between the artist and society, which makes you reflect, think about the meaning and ... what can I say - it makes the urban environment bright and original.
At the MU MU Garbage Museum you can see original examples of street art, which can be imagined as art installations at exhibitions:
Trash art
The term trash art comes from two English words: trash simply means trash, art is art. "Junk Art", right? To clarify: now trash art is called such types of creativity, where old rubbish and all sorts of obsolete things are involved. Thrash art devotees in the mid-1950s began to be called educated, aware of the value of aesthetics people who rebelled against mass cheap art. Once they rebelled, they began to do the opposite - and began to create art from cigarette butts, scraps of tickets, and in general everything that came to hand. Today, "thrash art" is referred to as "alternative art" that is not amenable to general rules and standards. It is unpredictable, rebellious - and therefore even more beautiful and amazing.
The German artist Kurt Schwitters is considered the founder of trash art. Back in 1918, when trash art was out of the question, he began experimenting in the field of abstract art. In fact, the artist was engaged in "children's creativity" - application, sticking cigarette wrappers, scraps of tickets and other rubbish on the surface of the picture. Much to the surprise of those around him, in his hands the garbage suddenly became a work of art. So thrash art began to win its first adherents and admirers.
Nearly a century after the first works of Schwitters, the art of trash art continues its victorious march across the planet. Installations and paintings made from garbage are now ready to pay millions. Renowned museums and galleries display vibrant trash art alongside classic paintings and sculptures. There are some oddities here, as happened with one of the most expensive artists of our time, Damien Hirst. In a burst of inspiration, he made a work of cigarette butts and beer cans, which was immediately exhibited in London's Eyestorm Gallery. The cleaners did not appreciate the artist's inspiration: according to them, they thought that there had been a party in the gallery the day before - and all the art objects flew into the trash can.
In "MU MU" works in the style of trash art are not waiting for a trash can, but a worthy place in the exposition:
Optical art, or op art
Op art is another interesting trend in contemporary art. In translation (optical art) the essence of this artistic movement is indicated: it uses various optical illusions based on the features of the perception of flat and spatial figures.
The first experiments with op art began in Europe in the middle of the 20th century, and Victor Vasarely, a native of Hungary, is considered the founder of the new art form.
Optical art from the very first minutes attracts the eye with its visual illusions. We look at the picture and understand that the image exists not only on the canvas, but also in reality - in the eyes and brain of the viewer. It is no coincidence that op art is called art for philosophers: in order to understand what is depicted in the picture, you need to take a good look at it.
steampunk
Steampunk is one of the newest trends in design and art: its name was formulated only in the late 1980s. The term "steampunk" was born from the English words "steam" (steam) and "punk" - a reference to rebellious origins.
Often, steampunk is also called steampunk, and this option also has the right to life - now we will explain why. The fact is that steampunk artists sing of all technologies for a couple - steam locomotives, airships and other mechanisms. This is such a sci-fi, urban-industrial style that combines retro and futurism in a strange way. Retro is in a deliberate stylization of the Victorian era (England, mid and late 20th century), and the origins of futurism can be found in the main conceptual question of steampunk: "What would the world look like if the steam engine remained the main one?". Spoiler: there would be a lot of airships, motors, gears and metal.
Steampunk artists in their works manage to create a brutally cozy world that boys dream of after reading the fiction of Jules Verne. Amazingly beautiful works are created from ordinary scrap metal by Russian artist Igor Verny:
In our museum you can admire elegant and brutal works in this style:
Assemblage
Assemblage is a visual art technique akin to collage. The term comes from the French word assemblage, which literally means "mixing".
If the artist uses paper in collages, then the assemblage is based on the use of volumetric details, fragments or whole objects that can be placed on a plane. It turns out a three-dimensional image, which can be supplemented with paints, metal, wood, fabric and other elements.
For the first time, the assemblage technique began to be used by Russian avant-garde artists (Tatlin, Rodchenko, Puni) at the beginning of the 20th century. The term itself was introduced by the French artist and sculptor Jean Dubuffet only in 1953. Under it, he understood works of art made from fragments of natural materials, objects or their fragments.
French artists liked the assemblage terribly - and they began to improve it in their own way, giving out all kinds of masterpieces. Like, for example, the French artist Cesar, who personally pressed the material for his works.
junk art
The direction of junk art came from the merger of two English words that are so little compatible with each other. Judge for yourself: junk is “garbage, rubbish”, and art is “art”, so sublime, not at all like waste!
Junk art is a direction in modern painting and sculpture, close to assemblage (recall, this is something like a three-dimensional collage).
The term "junk art" was first used to describe collages by Robert Rauschenberg in the mid-1950s.
Junk art artists use materials that have no value - scrap metal, old things, city waste. And since there is more and more garbage on Earth every year, their opportunities for creativity are expanding to infinity.
At MU MU, junk art is featured in many original objects, such as these:
Magnificent Louboutins are entirely made of garbage, and they collected it in the company's studio, literally - in trash cans!
The room of the artist Naina Velichko, the interior of which can be viewed closer at MU MU. All the exhibits were made "honestly" - that is, spontaneously and from the material that was at that moment at hand and even under the feet of the author.
Recycling art and eco-art
Recycling art and eco-art are similar forms of contemporary environmental art. Recycling in translation from English means "recycling", "reuse". This direction appeared quite recently, at the turn of the century - when mankind thought about how to attract people's attention to global environmental problems in a beautiful way. Let's see how they do it.
Eco-artist Chris Jordan creates his works from garbage and biological waste found in landfills or fished from the ocean floor. One of Jordan's most sensational paintings is a gigantic canvas depicting two sharks. The picture would have remained unattended if not for one “but”: it is entirely created from shark teeth. The artist himself found them at the bottom of the sea, bought them at seaside bazaars, or simply found them in landfills. In total, the picture took 270 thousand shark teeth. Can you imagine how many fish were exterminated for their skeleton, skin and meat?
Another eco-artist, Korean Yong Ho Ji, creates sculptures of sharks from ordinary car tires - many of which, by the way, are fished out of the seas.
And these are fantastic animals from old tires made by our authors:
In the neighborhood you can find a philosophical work in the style of eco-art - a ship sinking in garbage. She arrived at "MU MU" in real garbage bags and here, in the museum itself, was recreated personally by the author's hands in the original composition. The front of the Ship is made from scraps of black plastic pipes, oysters and marine debris found on the beach.
