The Black Rock Arts Foundation installation at Burning Man 2006,
ScrapEden BRC, was an incredible success. The Scrap Shack itself
looked like it was pulled off the roadside in Anywhere, Montana.
The whole exhibition space, scribed by a shallow split rail
fence, filled up with works by 44 contributing artists who
hauled their pieces into the expansive dust of Black Rock for
exhibition during the week long Burning Man Festival. Each of
the pieces was created using recycled, reclaimed, repurposed or
otherwise salvaged materials. Flowers built of bicycle wheels
graced the entrance, an old piano, just off to the right,
provided both the resonating chamber for an instrument whose
strings stretched 30′ to the nearest windmill, and also
kept a poorly tuned beat for impromptu performances by dancers
and musicians alike. In the center stood a small tree —
its deciduously metal branches cradling a flaming bird’s
nest by night. Champagne cork spiders crawled though tin can
flowers, starched garden gloves mimicked one bush’s
sprouting leaves, a giant onion proved a soft-safe-haven for the
playa-weary.
The idea for ScrapEden came to us when the Foundation was
approached by the San Francisco Department of the Environment
to apply for a grant; the DOE was soliciting proposals for
projects and initiatives that would substantially change the
behavior of SF residents around curbside comporting and
recycling. As an arts organization we were a bit befuddled
about how we were going to divert significant numbers of
tonnage from the waste stream, but we put our heads to the
white board, and after much pounding, slowly, the ScrapEden
concept was born. We decided to use art as the vehicle to talk
about, and ascribe value to, what is otherwise considered
trash. We decided to create a program designed around
collaborative artworks created from reclaimed materials as a
means of talking to people about what they’re throwing
into the rubbish bin, lanfill, bay, ocean, water table, etc.
We did it first in Black Rock City, stay tuned to find out
what we’re doing in San Francisco….
