Art at the Dump: Josh Short & Ben Burke
Recology is pleased to announce a two-day art exhibition and reception for local artists Josh Short and Ben Burke. The exhibition will be the culmination of four months of work by Short and Burke who have scavenged materials from the dump to make artwork and promote recycling and reuse.
A retrospective exhibition celebrating the life of artist and former Artist in Residence Program staff member, Henri Marie-Rose (1922-2010) will be held concurrently at 401 Tunnel Avenue.
Break in Case of Emergency, Josh Short
The Uncanny Valley Orphanage, Ben Burke
Friday, May 14, 2010, 5pm to 9pm
Saturday, May 15, 2010, 1pm to 5pm
503 Tunnel Ave. San Francisco, CA 94134
http://www.recology.com/AIR
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Break in Case of Emergency
Using home appliances, car parts, stereo equipment, and electronic toys pulled from the waste stream, Josh Short deconstructs, and subsequently reconstructs objects, creating art imbued with new functionality and symbolic meaning. In a time when the dominant nature of American culture seems oppressive or guilt inducing, Short looks to its roots, reinvigorating an old-school notion of American ingenuity and celebrating home hobbyists, inventors, tinkerers, and those who find communion in beers shared over the engine of a car. Short, who received an MFA from UC Davis, also explores a darker side to the plentiful materials he has collected—consumerism and waste as signs of a coming apocalypse. Through “in case of emergency” pieces he anticipates a time when we all might need to rely on our ingenuity—and garbage—to survive. In addition to presenting objects in the gallery, Short will be grilling on his mobile bar-b-que/dj station, made from a real car grill and hotplates, replete with disco lights, smoke machine, and a turn-table spinning found vinyl. The public is encouraged to come and partake in the ritual.
The Uncanny Valley Orphanage
In Ben Burke’s exhibition, The Uncanny Valley Orphanage, he explores the concept of the “uncanny valley,” a term coined for robotics or animation that too closely resemble the human form—figures that are incredibly familiar, yet disturbingly wrong. For Burke’s cast of uncanny characters he has vivified found mannequins and other forms through lo-fi animatronics to create interactive assemblage pieces. Sculpture meets theater as this troupe of misfits become actors in a presentation which will include performances by Burke, whose interests lie in traditions of theatrical showmanship. Informed by carnival and vaudeville, Burke’s art incorporates fables, story-telling, and dark comedy to explore the magical or arcane, using the past to contextualize, or even reinvigorate the present. The works may channel the ghosts of performers of old, or perhaps just prompt a night of crazy dreams.
About the Artist in Residence Program
The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is a one-of-a-kind program started in 1990 to encourage people to conserve natural resources and instill a greater appreciation for the environment and art in children and adults. Artists work for four months in studio space on site, use materials recovered from the Public Disposal and Recycling Area, and speak to students and the general public. Over eighty professional Bay Area artists have completed residencies, and applications are accepted annually in August.
Directions to 503 Tunnel Ave.
Directions from downtown San Francisco & East Bay
Go south on Highway 101 and get off at the exit marked “Candlestick Park/Tunnel Ave.” After the stop sign, continue forward onto Beatty Road until you reach Tunnel Avenue. Turn right on Tunnel Avenue. Go a half block to 503 Tunnel Avenue.
Directions from the Cow Palace
Go east on Geneva Avenue until you reach Bayshore Boulevard. Turn left on Bayshore Boulevard. After a few blocks, turn right on Blanken Avenue, then make a quick right turn on Tunnel Avenue. 503 Tunnel Avenue will be on the left.
Direction from the Peninsula
Go north on Highway 101 and get off at the “Candlestick Park” exit (this is the first Candlestick Park exit). Turn left at the first stop sign onto Alanna Way and go under the freeway. The road curves before you reach the second stop sign. Turn right on Beatty and continue to the end of the road. Turn right on Tunnel Avenue. Go a half block to 503 Tunnel Avenue.
Parking
There is ample street parking, unless there is a football game at Candlestick Park.
Public Transit
The T-Third streetcar line and bus line 9 stop within walking distance of 503 Tunnel Ave. (The 9 bus stops at Bayshore Boulevard and Arleta Avenue, three blocks away from our location.) The Caltrain Bayshore Station stop is located directly across the street from our facility. For a schedule of times, please visit Caltrain’s website.
Oh the Places You Can Go…
5 Ways to See Artwork from Recology’s Artist in Residence Program
Artwork created by the artists who’ve participated in the Artist in Residence Program is on exhibit throughout the city of San Francisco. Here are the current locations:
- Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street: The Art of Recycling, with over 40 pieces from Recology’s collection. The show will continue through July 9th, 2010.
- 50 Fremont Street in downtown San Francisco: Art for Earth Day at 50 Fremont with six pieces from Recology’s collection. The show will be up until May 29th, 2010.
- Hotel Monaco on Geary Street: A small exhibit for Earth Week in the lobby of the hotel. Will be installed until April 30th, 2010.
- Harbour Court Hotel on the Embarcadero: A small exhibit for Earth Week (ends April 26, 2010).
- Ward Alan Emery Construction at 345 California Street in downtown San Francisco: Ongoing rotating exhibit in company window.
Every Day is Earth Day at Recology Silicon Valley
Recology Silicon Valley’s administrative office has been officially “Bay Area Green Business” certified in Santa Clara County for its environmentally sound practices!
The Green Business Program is a collaborative venture developed by Bay Area public agencies with the U.S. EPA, Cal EPA Department of Toxic Substances Control and the business community. It is offered in Alameda, Contra Costa Marin, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties. Since 1996, over 1,500 Bay Area businesses and public agencies have been certified, of which 330 are located in Santa Clara County.
Congratulations to Recology Silicon Valley for their leadership in green business certification and achieving this coveted status!
Justifying Your Eco-Purchases: A Checklist
If you shop at grocery stores, pharmacies, specialty stores, or pretty much anywhere that sells goods, you have been beckoned to be a green consumer with promises that the product you’re buying is “compostable,” “biodegradable,” or “natural.” If you’ve purchased these products I am sure you have left the store feeling as if you have done your green deed for the day, maybe even turning your nose up at the consumer behind you who bought the tired looking tinfoil bag of potato chips. It’s ok, I’ve been there too. But, are we really worthy of the do good feeling we get as we dole out the extra $0.50 for our contribution to the environment?
In order to help you truly justify the extra expense for the environment, I have developed three questions you should ask yourself before you grab the product that appears to be the friendliest to mother earth.
1. Where will you be throwing the product once you’re done with it?
If you’ve watched a commercial created by a certain potato chip manufacturer you might be tempted by the brilliant illustration of a potato chip bag disintegrating into the soil to litter your “eco-purchase.” Or, you may, as an habitual person, throw the remnants into the nearest garbage can. Or, if you’re living in San Francisco, California, or Portland, Oregon, where Recology offers food waste collection separate from regular garbage pick up, you may throw the product in the composting (green) bin (we hope you do!).
Whichever disposal path you choose for your product, you are either doing your eco-purchase justice or, you’re simply cutting your good deed short. Compostable, or biodegradable products are only as good at helping the environment as the effort we put in to making sure they’re disposed of properly. So, if you are throwing your compostable products into the Recology provided green bin, or into an at home composting bin, kudos to you! You can breathe a sigh of relief that you haven’t simply paid an additional cost for your product to end up in a landfill, you are helping to complete a cycle and bring your compostable product back to the earth where it was once derived.
2. How, exactly, is the product labeled?
“Eco-Friendly” products have taken on a huge array of good feeling names since they have become popular on the market. I mentioned a few before, “compostable,” “biodegradable,” “natural,” or simply “green,” can lead a consumer to believe that the product they are purchasing is manufactured using no synthetic materials. But, sadly, this is only true for a handful of natural products you see on the market today. The truth is, a lot of the biodegradable products on the shelves are still manufactured using petroleum based substances. If these products are thrown into the compost bin they’re not being fully broken down in the composting process. For a product to completely break down, it must be labeled compostable, and be approved using ASTM standards. There are a number of policy related efforts underway to ensure products are being labeled correctly so we know where and how to dispose of them properly.
3. Is it worth your while?
I had to add this last pre-purchase checklist requirement in to the mix because of a personal disaster I will only share with you anonymously. I was recently at a meeting where they distributed “compostable pens.” As a tried and true pen chewer, I was happy to accept the gift and promptly begin to chew on the tip which almost immediately snapped in half, leaving me wondering if there was blue ink on my face as half of the room turned to stare at what had made the loud noise (wasn’t me!). Even though I had my original doubts as to how a pen could really pass as compostable (the tagline reads: makes more compost than regular pens! Duh), I decided that the integrity of the product didn’t really live up to my pen chewing habit standards. Compostable pens are, clearly, not worth my while.
So the next time you feel like releasing your inner tree hugger by purchasing a well marketed product, make sure you go through the checklist above. Purchasing compostable products is a terrific way to contribute to the environment, as long as it is done correctly!
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