Rubbish in Design
INTRODUCTION
The question of rubbish in design has assumed increasing significance in recent years. The late modernity in artistic expression, particularly in design, has made a strong case of incorporating everyday elements into different artistic expressions including, most notably, painting, sculpture, photography and installations. In so doing, artistic expression has metamorphosed from a rather distanced engagement in "mundane" (made into loftier expressions by professional artistic design) into an actual immersion into day-to-day actualities in order to render "real" objects in different kaleidoscopic representations, particularly in still and video installations. The emergence of rubbish (assuming "rubbish" is disposable objects ridded of in cans, landfills or streets) as a center of interest for artistic expression represents, if anything, an increasing emphasis on rubbish as symbolic of objects, places and faces well beyond immediate occurrences. From a design perspective, rubbish is viewed, in late modernity artistic expression, as a fluid artistic module rich in meanings waiting for externalization by different artistic approaches. True, rubbish has been a constant object of contemplation for different purposes. However, more recent artistic engagements show, if anything, a growing propensity for de-rubbishing rubbish by exploring underlying meanings well beyond immediate rubbish objects into broader urban and personal spaces. Consequently, a design value appears to emerge from using rubbish in different artistic expressions. A deeper understanding of design value, if any, in rubbish requires exploration of actual implementations of rubbish-centered artistic expressions. For current purposes, specific artistic projects are identified in order to highlight design value in rubbish namely, works of Richard Wentworth, Enrica Borghi and Vik Muniz. This paper aims, hence, to explore design value in works of Richard Wentworth, Enrica Borghi and Vik Muniz as exemplary of employing rubbish for different artistic representations and purposes.
This paper is made up of four sections in addition to introduction: (1) Transforming Space in Rubbish, (2) Transforming Function in Rubbish, (3) Rubbish at Action and (4) Conclusion. The Transforming Space in Rubbish section explores design value in works of Richard Wentworth as he employs rubbish to metamorphose meanings of objects in space in everyday life. The Transforming Function in Rubbish section explores design value in works of Enrica Borghi as she metamorphoses functions of objects in using rubbish objects. The Rubbish at Action section explores design value in works of Vik Muniz as he employs rubbish in his photography in order to make difference for rubbish collectors. The Conclusion section wraps up argument and offer further insights.
TRANSFORMING SPACE IN RUBBISH:
In employing rubbish in his works, particularly sculpture and photography, Richard Wentworth lends innovative renderings for everyday rubbish. His concepts (surprisingly common), deployment and configuration of objects and, not least, apparent sheer simplicity make a case for new space design by using rubbish. If rubbish is commonly understood to be disposable objects ridded (probably because of absence of future uses), Wentworth picks his rubbish objects carefully and highlight specific concepts hardly recognizable in rubbish. Notably, Wentworth redesigns rubbish objects as to highlight and/or explore day-to-day practices of people, particularly in urban settings (Hawkins, 2010). The "leftovers" of urban dwellers, put differently, are re-examined as to highlight personal narrative underlying rubbish objects. The scope of Wentworth's renderings is, indeed, broad. Still, Wentworth's employment of rubbish, or more broadly, disposable objects, is located, if anything, in urban settings. The apparent simplicity in object constellations reflect, if anything, deeper, underlying urban complexities not readily accessible. The Havana (shown below in Figure 1) exemplifies a simplicity embedded into a broader urban complexity.
Figure 1. Havana (Wentworth, 2015)
This photographic rendering, Havana, named after Cuba's capital, redesigns a mundane, rubbish object (i.e. a straw in a plastic cup) into a congested, ironwork holder as to highlight meanings, if any, well beyond immediate objects. The act of placing a plastic cup into what appears to be part of an iron gate, probably uncovers meanings of personal congestion, aggression and, most notably, discount. These meanings could, of course, be different in a different urban setting. Choosing Havana, however, could uncover meanings of isolation, incomplete personal narratives or just a general discontent against a stifling system. The pointed, iron bar (projecting behind shown plastic cup as if penetrating a fragile discontent) is photographed perpendicular to shown, plastic straw in an interesting juxtaposition emphasizing contrast between a rising power (barely hidden beyond shown plastic glass and particularly explicit further up in a brassy, iron, pointed bar) and a subjugated resistance only made of plastic.
Havana does not, moreover, betray a specific context. If anything, shown objects, particularly plastic glass and straw, could be anywhere in a city representing Cuba's urbanity. In a fashion much similar in Wentworth work, context is absent, as if to minimalize all surroundings into a concentrated form of rubbish expression. To highlight rubbish, accordingly, represents a shift in focus from rubbish as disposable materials employed only to serve specific, minor functions in an artistic expression into a center-stage object of contemplation, consumption and, not least, retrospection.
TRANSFORMING FUNCTION IN RUBBISH
In his contribution to artistic expression employing rubbish objects, Wentworth has adopted urban space for his representations. Yet, rubbish employment spans far broader representations in addition to space. For one, Enrica Borghi represents a powerful example of, paradoxically, projecting haute couture and feminine shapes using plastic bottles. This adoption of disposable objects, particularly of plastic bottles, is explicit on Borghi's self-presentation of her installation portfolios on her website:
On the pavements, stuffed into gleaming plastic bags, the remains of yesterday’s Leonia await the rubbish collection truck. Rather than by what is produced, sold and purchased day after day, the opulence of Leonia is measured by the things that are thrown away on a daily basis so as to make room for new ones
Of course, the rubbish collectors are welcomed like angels, and their task of removing the remains of yesterday’s existence commands silent respect, like a devotional rite, or perhaps simply because once thrown out, nobody cares to think about them any longer. (Borghi, 2013)
In projecting rubbish collectors into spotlight, Borghi emphasizes rubbish as a central object for further contemplation and, of course, re-design and manipulation, an emphasis which assumes further practical implications in Vik Muniz's work (as discussed in further detail in next section). The manipulations of plastic bottles, a constant rubbish object in Borghi's installations, assume spectacular high end fashion representations of females in different moods and settings. Probably, Grande Soirée (shown below in Figure 2) epitomizes Borghi's plastic installations.
Figure 2. Grande Soirée (Borghi, 1999)
Trailing behind an evening dress is, as shown above, plastic bottles arranged as to exhibit wave-like movements of an elegant, long-tail dress. The selection of blue, plastic bottles is, moreover, particularly interesting. If anything, blue spectra, particularly darker shades of blue, remain a mainstay of elegant and mysteriously feminine expression. The blueness of a dress lends, if anything, an eerily unidentifiable appeal. The choice of blue, plastic bottles come in handy for a similar statement of feminine beauty.
In Nice, France, a city marked by long conventions of artistic expression, Borghi's Grande Soirée is displayed (shown below in Figure 3) as to emphasis, in Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art, city's openness to diverse artistic expressions (Cantor, Carmichae, Lloyd & Andrad, 2014). By exhibiting a late-modern, rubbished-based rendering, Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art marks a shift from usual, classical emphasis on pioneering artists and painters and
Figure 3. Grande Soirée as exhibited at Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art, Nice, France (Cantor, Carmichae, Lloyd & Andrad)
into more innovative – and, for that matter, engaging – artistic expressions based on objects used in day-to-day life.
RUBBISH AT ACTION
If Wentworth and Borghi represent, if anything, shifts in rubbish employment in visual installations in space and function respectively, Vik Muniz is probably noted for his real-life engagement in his representations of rubbish objects. In his "Pictures of Garbage," a collection depicting in re-drawn renderings of photographic images daily pursuits of garbage collectors in Jardim Gramacho, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Kino, 2010). The engagement in rubbish community, so to speak, for Muniz does not stop at still depictions but is extended into an actual filming of daily work of garbage collectors in Jardim Gramacho's landfill in Waste Land (Kino). This engagement is furthered still by a stream of donations by Muniz in order to help garbage collector community lead a better life (Kino).
The representations of Kino are informed, if anything, by an early childhood marked by poverty and, more or less, scavenging (Kino). Therefore, in opting for literal documentation of rubbish life, so to speak, in his ""Pictures of Garbage" collection, Muniz is repaying for opportunities he has been offered but denied to community members he could have easily been part of. The rubbish depictions are, accordingly, a rare reflection of an artist on his own work (rendered using different material and modes of expression) but also, probably more significantly, on his own personal life. Predictably, or not, suffering, struggle and, not least, a sense of salvation and redemption permeate his collection. In contrast to Wentworth and Borghi, who depict representations using rubbish objects for subjects not specifically related to each one's personal life, Muniz's collection is a decidedly personal immersion into objectification of rubbish as artistic expression products. This is best illustrated in his Marat (shown below in Figure 4).
Figure 4. Marat (Muniz, n.d.)
As just noted, redemption is an underlying, major subject in Muniz's "Pictures of Garbage". In Figure 4, Marat, or Tião Santos (Cantor, Carmichae, Lloyd, & Andrad), is depicted in what could count as a late modern representation of actual occurrences in day-to-day life as is. Put differently, in depicting Marat / Santos in his original, rubbish setting, Muniz is employing rubbish as artistic material of design value. Thus, in a fashion similar to Wentworth and Borghi, Muniz reinvents rubbish for a more artistic value and, more significantly, an employment of rubbish in artistic expressions not only as mere extras but as integral components for specific statements.
Conclusion
REFERENCES
Borghi, E. (1999). Grande Soirée [Digital image]. Enrica Borghi. Accessed 9 April, 2016. Available from: http://www.enricaborghi.com/en_US/home/works_installations/fashion/clothes
Borghi, E. (2013). Enrica Borghi [Online]. Accessed 9 April, 2016. Available from: http://www.enricaborghi.com/
Cantor, M., Carmichae, C., Lloyd, W., & Andrad, F. (2014, August 13). 36 Hours in Nice [Video]. The New York Times. Accessed 9 April, 2016. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/video/travel/100000003052199/36-hours-in-nice.html
Hawkins, H. (2010). Turn your trash into Rubbish, art and politics. Richard Wentworth's geographical imagination. Social & Cultural Geography [Online] 11(8), 805-827. Taylor & Francis Online. doi: 10.1080/14649365.2010.522719 [Accessed: 9th April, 2016]
Kino, C. (2010). Where Art Meets Trash and Transforms Life. The New York Times, 21 October [Online]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/arts/design/24muniz.html?_r=0
Muniz, V. (n.d.). Marat [Digital image]. The New York Times. Accessed 9 April, 2016. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/arts/design/24muniz.html?_r=1
Wentworth, R. (2015). Havana [Digital image]. Lisson Gallery. Accessed 9 April, 2016. Available from: http://www.lissongallery.com/artists/richard-wentworth
