By Jessica Hazel

Anyone who has studied or taken an interest in art, will understand what it’s like living in a house full of old paintings, sculptures, collage of crisp packets, collection of ‘found objects’ and not having a clue what to do with them. Too ghastly to put on display and downright insulting to give away as gifts, but then again these artworks were often slaved over and not to mention the money spent on creating them. Luckily UK artist Michael Landy, has come up with a solution in his latest project entitled: ‘Art Bin’. Landy is using a giant glass skip, that resides in the South London Gallery, to slowly fill with donated/rejected artworks.

Famous for similar art projects such as his 2001 ‘Break Down’ exhibition, in which Landy destroyed all his worldly possessions. His work continues to revolve around disposal, destruction, value and ownership themes, hence the development of Art Bin. For the next six weeks, Landy hopes the bin will become “a monument to creative failure”.

Anyone can apply to dispose of their art via the website: www.art-bin.co.uk, or by taking your work along in person, where Michael or a representative will assess it’s ‘Art Bin’ worthiness (general junk is not permitted). In a sense, he is acting as both the artist and the collector while limiting the amount of control in the development of the final piece.

It’s not just amateurs who have used Art Bin, hot shots such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Landy himself have all hurled their failed exploits into the bin. While there I noticed a lady climbed the iron stairwell overlooking the bin and took great joy in lobbing hundreds of clear plastic boxes housing black rubber balls into the rejected art heap. Its great therapy, unexpected fame for artists with low self-esteem and the ultimate graveyard for art student’s back catalogues.

Art Bin will be on show until the 14th March at the South London Gallery.



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