I took it and made it: art objects from garbage. Born in a landfill
With eco-artist Gyuzel Amirova, I learned why and why she creates art objects from waste, how this can save the planet from pollution, and whether the city needs a full-fledged recycling museum.
Second life of plastic bottles
For seven years now I have been involved in artistic art cycling (this is the wise use of resources and creative transformation of things), because I am sure that this direction will one day help humanity solve global problems associated with the pollution of our planet. For example, it can draw attention to the reuse of waste and the use in creativity of materials that cannot currently be recycled. It was the last aspect – the possibility of recycling – that once interested me: for the first time I thought about art cycling on the polluted shores 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. At that moment, something seemed to click in me, and I felt unity with the sea and reproach from it. After all, it treats us with all our hearts: it rocks us on its waves, gives us good impressions and relaxation, and we throw the waste of civilization into the water. Then I got up and just started cleaning the bank. At the same time, since childhood I was a very creative person - I was always 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 decorative items, glued shells from the beach onto the vessels, sprayed everything with gold spray and gave the resulting souvenirs to the sanatorium workers. I returned to St. Petersburg with the thought that I want to continue such artistic activities that are beneficial to nature. Then, in 2011, colored plastic bottles had just begun to be produced en masse, and I began to actively work with them. First, she created costume 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 threaded everything onto a twisted plastic thread. The flow of ideas was inexhaustible, and soon I began to make practical things for everyday life, for example, lamps. By the way, my sudden passion for creativity from recycled materials seriously surprised my friends. However, over time, they appreciated my perseverance and began to help: supporting ideas and new projects, bringing washed bottles of rare colors and joining the separate collection of waste.
First exhibition made from recycled materials
A few months after that cleanup on the seashore, I held the first exhibition in my apartment, where I invited everyone interested, including environmental activists from St. Petersburg. This is how I met Denis Stark, the creator of the social movement “Garbage. No More.” Thanks to his project, I realized that the problem of waste and environmental pollution is very global and affects 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 that in industrial and technical production. It is difficult for people who have not previously encountered this issue to realize this, but when they see my work in person, they understand that any discarded bottle can become part of creative 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 sort garbage and reuse 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). I made a frame out of plastic, and then sculpted the statue using the extension technique - creating volumes with plastic tapes. Moreover, all the work was done without a drop of glue - plastic has a unique adhesion property when the temperature rises. By the way, this sculpture has also become a good recyclable material - its entirety can be recycled. But in another work - a statue of a musician for a rock festival - I sculpted a face from stretch film, which the movers threw on the road right in front of me. By the way, unlike bottles, it is not recycled.
Of course, collecting garbage even for creativity is an unpleasant and dirty job, and I, a doctor by training, am very sensitive to this. I soak all bottles and other recyclables in a bucket and wash them 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 it, and even when traveling I look for beautiful bottles. So, for example, from Thailand I brought half a suitcase of amazing purple bottles that are not available 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, and even environmental activists don’t 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 substrates for products - 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: from Thailand I moved to Armenia, and from there to Georgia. And in all these countries, unfortunately, I encounter a lot of garbage. In Pattaya, for example, the beaches and ocean are so dirty that vacationers go to a tiny island nearby to swim. In Armenia and Georgia there are a lot of bottles, bags and other packaging on the roadsides among the mountains and blooming 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'm horrified to think what this attitude towards garbage will lead to in the near future.
Unlike other countries and small cities in Russia, in St. Petersburg you can live according to European standards without any problems thanks to the city’s environmental programs, social movements, activists and their enormous daily work. Of course, many city residents are still conservative on this issue, and some simply lack information and environmental education. Therefore, I dream of opening a museum of recycling and art cycling in St. Petersburg. For this, I believe, the help of the state is needed - such a project is not feasible on a public basis alone. This museum could tell people how the plastic bottle was invented, show the entire cycle of its production and the possibilities of further processing (it can even be used to make filling for a jacket or pillow, and most people know nothing about this!). After visiting such a place, many would have a desire to separate waste collection and recycle materials.
Text: S. Chernyakova/City+
“Trash art”: art objects mistaken for trash
Tracey Emin "My Bed"
Contemporary art sometimes plays a cruel joke on the viewer. During the Harbor Art Fair in Hong Kong, a cleaner mistook artist Carol May's work for trash and threw it away. “RBC Style” remembered when art objects could not be distinguished from trash.
Carol May "Unhappy Meal"
Swiss artist Carol May lost one of her works at the Harbor Art Fair that ended in Hong Kong. We are talking about the installation “Unhappy Meal”, which resembled a box from a “Happy Meal” - a set with food and a toy from the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain. The cleaning lady did not notice the difference between the art object and an empty fast food cardboard and threw it away May's work, and by the time she realized she had made a mistake, Unhappy Meal was already seriously damaged.
“In my works, I often turn to everyday objects, which I give new features with the help of small changes,” the artist noted. She also added that in her creativity she strives to take a critical look at modern consumer culture.
The work “Unhappy Meal” is not lost forever. The prudent Carol May took care of the production of 30 such installations. According to Dazed, the art object is valued at $364.
Tracey Emin "My Bed"
In 1998, British artist Tracey Emin created the installation “My Bed”. Being depressed, the artist did not leave her room for several days in a row and refused everything except alcohol. At the same time, the idea of an art project was born, which was an unmade bed surrounded by empty bottles, used condoms, crumpled linen and garbage. In 1999, My Bed was nominated for the Turner Prize and exhibited at the Tate Gallery. One of the museum's caretakers, not understanding Tracey Emin's idea, decided that the exhibit had been attacked by vandals and tidied up the bed,
Richard Stonehouse/Getty Images
Gustav Metzger "Restoring the First Public Display of Autodestructive Art"
In 2004, a cleaner at London's Tate Modern gallery mistook one of the exhibits for a bag of garbage and threw out the installation. However, it was not difficult to make a mistake with the work of Gustav Metzger: the exhibit with a long title - “Restoration of the first public display of auto-destructive art” - was a painting corroded by acid, surrounded by plastic garbage bags. After part of Metzger's art object literally ended up in a landfill, the artist had to make a new copy.
The artist Gustav Metzger, who died in London in March 2017, was called a “garbage genius.” He created the direction of “self-destructive art.” In his 1959 manifesto, he described the idea as follows: “It is a desperate, subversive political weapon, the last resort in the fight against the capitalist system... in the fight against art dealers and collectors who manipulate modern art for their own benefit.” Metzger often used industrial waste and construction waste in his installations.
Gustav Metzger
Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Serpentine Galleries
Sarah Goldschmid and Eleanor Chiari "Where are we going to dance this evening"
At the Museum of Modern Art in the Italian city of Bolzano, the installation “Where are we going to dance this evening” became a victim of cleaning workers. The work of two Milanese artists - Sarah Goldschmid and Eleonora Chiari - was dedicated to the era of hedonism and political corruption in Italy in the 1980s, The Independent reported. In one of the halls of the museum, the authors scattered empty bottles, cigarette butts and confetti on the floor. The cleaning lady took all this for banal garbage and cleaned it up thoroughly. When the museum opened the next morning, not a trace of the art object remained in the hall. Fortunately, the bags of art waste were not taken far. The artists restored the installation.
One of the serious and pressing problems existing in the world is global environmental pollution. Any sphere of human activity can contribute to solving this problem, and representatives of the arts did not stand aside. For many centuries, nature has inspired artists, and its beauty is captured in landscapes, sculptures, and photographs.
But some artists take the relationship between art and the environment a step further by creating works from nature itself or by creating works of art that emphasize the idea of the natural world and the mark humanity leaves on it. Their works allow not only to give a second life to used materials and create works necessary for the spiritual development of a person, but also to encourage humanity to preserve the environment.
This direction of fine art is called Recycle-Art (aka Trash-Art or Junk-Art). Modern society has become accustomed to consumption, without realizing that the planet’s resources are not limitless. Many household items are quickly sent for recycling without losing their physical properties. However, these things can continue to serve if new art objects are created from them.
Recycling art aims to reduce the negative impact of various types of waste on the natural environment, and therefore it can be considered 
as a direction of the environmental movement on a global scale. Its main principles are the conservation of natural resources and maximum savings in materials, and its objectives are the reduction of excess quantities of products, the revision of materials and manufacturing technologies of objects, as well as changes in consumer requirements.
Trash art (translated from English trash means “garbage”) is a direction of modern art in which industrial waste, parts of broken mechanisms and other household waste are used to create art objects. Today it has acquired the greatest relevance and is one of the 
common ways of creatively “fighting” environmental pollution. “Trash art” is a new, fairly widespread trend in contemporary art. However, back in 1918, the German Kurt Schwitters from Hanover began experimenting in the field of abstract art, gluing cigarette wrappers, scraps of tickets and other pieces of paper with text onto the surface, replacing ordinary paints. So he can be called the founder of this style.
Nowadays, “trash art” is “alternative art”, a protest against patterns and rules. Artists of this style create amazing art objects using industrial, paper, synthetic waste, as well as garbage collected from landfills - everything that is either thrown into a landfill or litters mezzanines, sheds or garages.
In 2017, in Arkhangelsk, environmental activists erected a statue of a huge elephant more than 8 meters high, 12.5 meters long, and about 6 meters wide, using 44,500 plastic bottles to create it. A lot of plastic dishes and containers are produced in the world, and after use, the plastic is mainly recycled. And this despite the fact that it almost does not decompose, although at the same time it can be recycled 100%. The organizers of the project decided to draw people's attention to the problem of garbage, recycling of raw materials and separate waste collection.
Artists and sculptors create various works of art from household waste: landscapes, portraits, still lifes, installations, sculptures, collages... So the person rummaging through the garbage is not always hungry, poor and homeless. Perhaps he is just a sculptor or artist collecting materials for his next masterpiece.
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But not everyone can understand high “junk” art, so sometimes funny cases happen: in 2001, a gallery cleaner mistakenly threw a work made from cigarette butts and beer cans by one of the most expensive artists of our time, Damien Hirst, into the trash. And Swiss artist Carol May lost one of her works at an art fair in Hong Kong. We are talking about the “Unhappy Meal” installation, which resembled a “Happy Meal” box - a set with food and a toy from the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain. The cleaning lady did not notice the difference between the art object and an empty fast food cardboard and threw away the work May: And when she realized that she was mistaken, the Unhappy Meal was already seriously damaged.
Prepared based on materials from Internet resources
Chinese artist and author of installations Wang Zhiyuan created an art object on an environmental theme. An 11-meter tornado made of plastic bottles roams the planet, covering art galleries and other “hotbeds of culture” with high ceilings: not every hall can accommodate such a colossus. However, we don’t see much destruction yet: environmental problems are not a new topic, and visitors to exhibitions will be surprised for about ten minutes, and then leave.
Beijing-based Wang Zhiyuan wants his art to be socially important and useful: “If it doesn't, I'll feel guilty.” Well, not only in Russia a poet is more than a poet, and an artist is more than an artist. Let's remember with a kind word both, and, and the British craftswoman.
53-year-old Wang Zhiyuan managed to see and try a lot in his life: he was engaged in painting and sculpture, in his youth he felt the strong influence (if not the pressure) of socialist realism and revised his artistic method in adulthood, emigrated to Australia, but returned to his homeland again.
Now he has come to the conclusion that all people need art. The larger the audience reach, the sooner our world will change for the better. And in order to expand the “staff” of connoisseurs of beauty, creativity must be understandable.
In the spirit of his views, Wang Zhiyuan created an installation with a simple message: it is better for garbage to be an art object in galleries and exhibition halls, or even a museum rarity, but not lying around on the streets and not forming ugly landfills.
When Wang Zhiyuan began collecting abandoned containers from Beijing landfills, he doubted that he would be able to create something worthwhile from the garbage. But then I realized that art begins where, by rearranging the terms, the sum actually changes. Having started arranging the bottles to suit his taste, the author of the installation became so carried away that he grew a huge plastic mountain.
11 meters of plastic containers from Beijing landfills are impressive, if only for their size. Whether the artistic value of a tornado is really that great - time will judge. But the good thing is that there is less garbage and more art in the world.
Garbage becomes the driving force of art - that's a fact. Today, artists do not need an easel and privacy in the studio - sometimes broken floppy disks and an old can of paint are enough for them. Things that have fallen out of use are now used in the works of modern authors. We want to talk in more detail about each type of art - non-standard, new and progressive. By the way, you can see exhibits in all these areas at the MUSEUM OF GARBAGE “MU MU”.
Street art
Let's start with perhaps the most famous type of modern 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 street art in the form of graffiti first appeared in 1942, during World War II, when an unknown worker named Kilroy got bored and began writing “Kilroy was here” on every box with bombs that were produced in a factory in Detroit. The soldiers liked this idea - and they began to copy the signature on the walls that survived the bombings in Europe.
However, here’s what’s interesting: the first thoughts about street art appeared three decades before the Second World War. You'll never guess from whom - from the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky himself! He, together with other Russian futurists, in 1918 came up with and issued Decree No. 1 “On the democratization of the arts (fence literature and area painting),” which read:
“Artists and writers are obliged to immediately take pots of paint and brushes of their skill to illuminate, to paint all the sides, foreheads and chests of cities, train stations and the 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 walls, stencils, sticker art, posters, video projections, flash mobs and street installations. Some suggest that street musicians should also be classified as street art.
The canvas for artists in street art is literally the whole world: walls of houses, roofs, carriages - 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 using 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. Among the Russian artists, it is worth highlighting Timofey Radyu - he is famous for his unusual and topical works, often related to political events. But there is not always a place for politics in art: sometimes Radya switches to completely cozy things - for example, he has already hung a “grandmother’s” carpet at a city bus stop and decorated street lamps in his native Yekaterinburg with homemade lampshades.
Another Russian street art artist and simply an urban romantic, Kirill Who is famous for his impressive inscriptions in bright colors:
Interesting observation: both Banksy and Kirill Who are pseudonyms. Most street art artists - both professionals and beginners - hide under made-up names. Perhaps this is because in the minds of the average person, street art is on the verge of vandalism. This is the case when sometimes you 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 spray paint in his hands, the artist speaks in his works about what worries society - and what is unlikely to be written in official newspapers. High-quality street art is not a hooligan prank, but a dialogue between the artist and society, which makes you reflect, think about the meaning and... what can we say - it makes the urban environment bright and original.
At the MUMU MUSEUM OF TRASH 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 means art. “Trash art”, right? Let us clarify: now trash art refers to such types of creativity that involve old trash and all sorts of obsolete things. In the mid-1950s, devotees of trash art began to be called educated people who knew the value of aesthetics and rebelled against mass cheap art. Once they rebelled, they began to do everything the other way around - and began to create art from cigarette butts, scraps of tickets and, in general, everything that came to hand. Today, “trash art” is classified as “alternative art”, which does not lend itself to general rules and standards. It is unpredictable, rebellious - and that makes it even more beautiful and amazing.
The founder of trash art is considered to be the German artist Kurt Schwitters. Back in 1918, when trash art was out of the question, he began experiments in the field of abstract art. In fact, the artist was engaged in “children’s creativity” - appliqué, gluing cigarette wrappers, scraps of tickets and other rubbish to the surface of the painting. Much to the surprise of those around him, in his hands the garbage suddenly became a work of art. This is how trash art began to win its first followers and admirers.
Almost a century after Schwitters’ first works, the art of trash art continues its victorious march across the planet. Millions are now willing to pay for installations and paintings made from garbage. Renowned museums and galleries display colorful trash art works alongside classical 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 piece out of cigarette butts and beer cans, which was immediately exhibited at 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 went into the trash.
In “MU MU” works in the style of trash art do not await a trash bin, but a worthy place in the exhibition:
Optical art, or op art
Op art is another interesting direction in contemporary art. Translation (optical art) indicates the essence of this artistic movement: it uses various optical illusions based on the peculiarities of perception of flat and spatial figures.
The first experiments with op art began in Europe in the mid-twentieth 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 a painting 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” is born from the English words “steam” (steam) and “punk” - a reference to rebellious origins.
Steampunk is often also called steampunk, and this option also has a right to life - now we will explain why. The fact is that steampunk artists glorify all steam-powered technologies - steam locomotives, airships and other mechanisms. This is a sci-fi, urban-industrial style that strangely combines retro and futurism. Retro is in the 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.
In their works, steampunk artists manage to create a brutally cozy world that boys dream about after reading the science fiction of Jules Verne. Russian artist Igor Verny creates amazingly beautiful works from ordinary scrap metal:
In our museum you can admire elegant and brutal works in this style:
Assembly
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 three-dimensional parts, fragments or entire objects that can be placed on a plane. The result is a three-dimensional image that can be supplemented with paints, metal, wood, fabric and other elements.
For the first time, Russian avant-garde artists (Tatlin, Rodchenko, Puni) began to use the assemblage technique at the beginning of the twentieth century. The term itself was introduced by the French artist and sculptor Jean Dubuffet only in 1953. By this he understood works of art made from fragments of natural materials, objects or their fragments.
French artists really liked the assemblage - and they began to improve it in their own way, producing all kinds of masterpieces. Like, for example, the French artist Cesar, who pressed the material with his own hands for his works.
Junk art
The trend of junk art came from the merger of two English words that are so little compatible with each other. Judge for yourself: junk - “garbage, garbage”, and art - “art”, so sublime, in no way similar to waste!
Junk art is a trend in modern painting and sculpture, close to assemblage (remember, this is something like a three-dimensional collage).
The term "junk art" was first used to describe the collages of 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 expand to limitlessness.
In "MU MU" junk art is represented in many original objects, such as these:
Magnificent Louboutins are made entirely from garbage, and it was collected in the company’s atelier itself, literally - in trash cans!
The room of the artist Naina Velichko, the interior of which can be taken a closer look at “MU MU”. All exhibits were made “honestly” - that is, spontaneously and from the material that was at hand and even under the author’s feet at that moment.
Recycling art and eco-art
Recycling art and eco-art are forms of modern environmental art that are similar in purpose. Recycling translated from English means “recycling”, “reuse”. This direction appeared quite recently, at the turn of the century - when humanity began to think 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 trash and biological waste found in landfills or dredged from the ocean floor. One of Jordan's most acclaimed paintings is a giant canvas depicting two sharks. The picture would have remained unnoticed if not for one “but”: it was created entirely from shark teeth. The artist himself found them at the bottom of the sea, bought them at seaside markets, or simply discovered them in landfills. In total, 270 thousand shark teeth were used for the painting. 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 caught from the seas.
And these are fantastic animals made from old tires, made by our authors:
Next door you can find a philosophical work in the eco-art style - a ship sinking in garbage. It arrived at MU MU in real garbage bags and here, in the museum itself, was personally recreated by the hands of the author into its original composition. The front of the Ship is created from scraps of black plastic pipes, oysters and marine debris found on the beach.
