About this project
America's Litter: a nation wide art project
I like picking up litter. It started a few years ago when I would walk my dog Emma through my neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. I would pick up the litter and put it in the dumpster and that was that. I started noticing how different neighborhoods had different litter. For example the neighborhood next to a heavily used parking lot had lots of event promotion flyers and a neighborhood with lots of bars had lots of bottles and cans and so on.
Then I started making my "litter pieces" First I started making studies of litter. Collecting litter and arranging it interesting compositions. Like this one
which has been included in the 5th Beijing International Art Biennale at the National Art Museum of China.
From there I began setting up guidelines to make each piece. For example I would only pick up blue litter
or collecting all the litter in one square block.
or collecting all of the event promotion flyers from one parking lot.
The Project
America's Litter will take participation from 50 people in 50 different states. I am going to find people through the magic of the internet, as well as hopefully have some people that have seen the project here on Kick Starter, collect one box of litter in a US Postal Service's small flat rate box and mail it to me at the rate of $5.35. Each person will be rewarded with a postcard as well as credit for the piece they helped make. I am interested to see the dynamic of the 50 boxes of litter each representing their home state.
The first person to contact me from each state will be the person I collaborate with. I want it to be unbiased. I will also be giving each person the same set of guidelines to collect the litter. Leave your house and walk straight until you are on public property for example a side walk, a road, a park, etc etc. Turn right and begin collecting litter in your USPS flat rate box until completely full.
Examples of some of the rewards!
The piece that is 4 pictures up; You Should Have Been There is roughly 16'' X 16'' X 4'' the size of the $150 Reward.
Free shipping on all rewards to the continuous 48 States. Please contact me if you live elsewhere and are interested in donating.
If you have any questions about the project or the pieces please let me know. Thanks for taking the time to check out America's Litter!
If you are interested in donating litter for your state please email me at noah@noahschenk.com , once a state has been claimed I will put it up on here and on my website.
States that have been claimed!
1. Pennsylvania
2. Kentucky
3. Ohio
4. Indiana
5. Oregon
6. Alabama
7. Florida
8. Maryland
9. Michigan
10. Nebraska
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support this project
Funding period
- (30 days)