NYC Garbage brings packaged street litter to Amsterdam

Conceptual art project NYC Garbage held its first international pop-up exhibition in Amsterdam on Saturday. The project displayed transparent boxes filled with street litter gathered across the city.

New York artist Justin Gignac began the project 25 years ago following a university debate over the power of packaging design. He has since turned the concept into a career, selling signed clear compartments of scavenged trash for up to 100 euros each.

Litter from five city neighbourhoods

Gignac spent nights searching five neighbourhoods between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to collect items for the show. He gathered discarded objects in the Jordaan, De Pijp, De Baarsjes, the Van der Pekbuurt, and De Wallen.

The resulting collection of 174 boxes held items including bottle caps, bicycle parts, coasters, chocolate wrappers, and plastic tubes from pre-rolled cannabis joints. Outside a window in the Red Light District, he picked up an empty Viagra strip, a condom wrapper, and a packet of lubricant.

A quarter century of packaged trash

Gignac made his first sale on a New York street corner in 2001, charging five dollars to an Ecuadorian buyer. He has since sold about 1,800 cubes to customers across more than 30 countries.

The Amsterdam edition represents nearly 10% of his total production to date. The show was hosted at the local office of creative agency Preacher.

Source: NL Times