4 Responses to “ I Can Haz Recycled Can Art? ”

1. 

   The Seeker
   

   20. Oct, 2008

   Pretty cool!

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2. 

   Racheblue
   

   27. Oct, 2008

   Hi guys,
   Interesting article. These works of art are aesthetically and resourcefully great.
   I can’t help wondering however if they are permanent pieces or if some of the components will still end up having to be recycled or horrifically sent to landfill.
   It would be awesome if these works actively encouraged viewers to re-think our consumer habits and stop buying all these canned products (a huge proportion of which are neither nutritional or healthy) in the first place.
   I’m not convinced that they promote green thinking, rather these pieces almost give the impression that it is okay to keep buying canned goods as they can be reused by artists - in a way, continued consumerism funding the arts!! This is not green!
   Green would be to cut consumerism and therefore have less products to recycle or upcycle.
   Do you agree?
   Rache

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   • 

     Leslie
     

     07. Oct, 2009

     In Lansing, after the Can Art displays are dismantled, the cans are being donated to the local food bank.

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3. 

   aerin
   

   10. Apr, 2009

   hey rache,

   i totally agree with you and just posted something on the upcycling portal that i’m working on about this today. my idea around the movement we might call upcycling is to get people thinking about how they might actually use THEIR OWN WASTE in more useful or productive ways. Art is cool and I’m all about creative expression, but i’m just not sure about how i feel about other people consuming that art (e.g. buying it, which just reinforces the dominant paradigm of consumption). I mean surely these artists did not eat all of that tuna or creamed corn or whatever. i also don’t think that using full cans and then giving them to the hungry is really all that cool either. I’m about encouraging people to think about what they consume and then what they do with what’s leftover. Upcycling is about making stuff more beautiful, useful or practical out of your own waste!

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