(Also featured in World Architecture News: Metroblogs on 15/02/2013)
From 3 'R's of sustainable principles - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - 'Reuse' has most power of creating innovative and refreshing objects, that also have an embedded cultural value. Like inheritance from our ancestors, the reused objects have a story, making them very special, unlike mass produced things we buy everyday. This is why the installation Waste Not by artist Song Dong is one of its kind. And the fact that it has been housed under Carriageworks - a Waste Not, modern cultural space created by reusing the old Eveleigh rail yard - makes it extraordinarily unique.
From 3 'R's of sustainable principles - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - 'Reuse' has most power of creating innovative and refreshing objects, that also have an embedded cultural value. Like inheritance from our ancestors, the reused objects have a story, making them very special, unlike mass produced things we buy everyday. This is why the installation Waste Not by artist Song Dong is one of its kind. And the fact that it has been housed under Carriageworks - a Waste Not, modern cultural space created by reusing the old Eveleigh rail yard - makes it extraordinarily unique.
Waste Not is translated from Wu jin qi yong : anything that can somehow be of use, shoud be used as much as possible.
From paper bags to leather bags, bowls to bottles, bird cages and empty boxes, Waste Not is a massive collection by the artist's mother, either out of fear of shortage or to reuse them as something else or because it reminded her of her deceased husband. The art compelled all visitors to feel the daily life of a whole generation of Chinese people, and question the everyday waste we generate today.
Televisions, record players and radios … the collection had it all. We overheard a visitor telling her friend "Doesn't that bring back memories?!"
Presence of a home in the centre as a main focal point of the display, enhances domestic nature of the collection, and ties it all together. The efforts of assembling, disassembling and transporting the house, over and above all the collected items, is well worth it.
Carriageworks, as a reused space, forms a perfect backdrop for the art installation. A great example of how architecture can add value to art.
Launched during Sydney Festival last month, Waste Not is on display until March 7th at Carriageworks. It is a perfect time to explore Carriageworks if you haven't done it yet.
RSS Feed
