TRASH: The book

Brian sent me this great post about trash as art.

Trash is not really a book at all, but a little annual hardcover magazine called Alphabet City, edited by John Knechtel, and published in hardcover by MIT Press.

What a gem, what an inspiring collection of great writing and images about, what else, trash. Who could imagine reconstructing Doctor Strangelove, scene by scene, entirely out of small bits of garbage? Artist Kristan Horton did; he took about 350 stills and made miniature recreations using mundane household objects like peanut butter jars, cigarette butts, cutlery and duct tape, and then displayed them beside the original. It is funny and brilliant- see it at his website.

Then there is Bill Keaggy and his 50 sad chairs, with an intro by Gay Hawkins. You can see the chairs here but also look at the rest of Keaggy's website, where we lost half a day cruising through old cameras, grocery lists and menus.

Follow that up with Lisa Rochon on garbage, Ed Burtynsky on waste in China, Karilee Fuglem's photographs of dust bunnies and Brian Jungen dissecting and reassembling consumer products in order to simulate more ancient forms, including a piece made from Nike footwear and human hair.