Circuit board paintings by Peter McFarlane

McFarlane on his work:

My circuit board paintings arose from working as a computer sales consultant back in the early 1990’s. I was appalled at the computer’s speed of redundancy and was determined to extend its life…Over time, I created traffic and lightning and other features that played with the metaphors associated with circuit boards and power. The work was more in the realm of the aesthetic, but I found the idea of making landscape beauty out of landfill components appealing. The circuit board, to me, is the perfect contemporary “canvas” or “platform”. It is such an integral part of the global village and contained in so many of our consumer goods that we rely upon to stay “connected” or “consumed”.

The used object is just the foothold for my interrogation of understanding. It is not so much about re-cycling as it is about a poetic re-contextualizing of object and idea. It is similar geography and architecture to urban topography as well as the connection to the circuitry of the mind enhance its intrinsic metaphoric value.

Circuit board sculpture by Peter McFarlane

Central Kaeru Station — Where Have All These Toys Come From? is an exhibit by Hiroshi Fuji of 100,000 abandoned toys that were collected across Japan over 13 years. The art exhibit is part of a larger recycling program that encourages kids to trade out their unwanted toys for the ones in the collection. 

Sayaka Ganz’s Reclaimed Creations

Ganz on her work:

Driven by a combination of my passion for fitting odd shapes together and a sympathy toward discarded objects, I create animals from thrift store plastics.

I spent my early childhood in Japan but I grew up in several different countries. Japanese Shinto beliefs are such that all objects and organisms have spirits, and I was taught in kindergarten that objects that are discarded before their time weep at night inside the trash bin. This became a vivid image in my mind…

I only select objects that have been used and discarded. My goal is for each object to transcend its origin by being integrated into an animal/ organic forms that are alive and in motion. This process of reclamation and regeneration is liberating to me as an artist.

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Images from Barry Rosenthal’s photo series Found in Nature

Rosenthal on his project:

My quest for shooting Photobotanicals took me from the countryside to the beach. While scouting for beach grasses, I found many scattered plastic bottle tops, pop tops and other detritus. There was too much of this stuff to just leave it where it washed up.

It had to be cleaned up. Using my collection bags, I cleaned up the beach. Themes for this new series began to run through my head. There were so many bottle caps, lighters and shotgun shells that my excitement grew with every new find that went into the bag. I decided to give these found objects a way of expressing something else about nature. It seems, given time the plastic would take over and replace nature. It is evident in the Found in Nature collection that the work of caring for the environment is yet to begin.

These whimsical repurposed gas pumps designed by James Dive are part of the Zero Petrol promotion for the release of the all-electric Nissan LEAF EV in Australia.

Cara Barer’s book art makes me want to throw my next phonebook into the bathtub instead of the recycling bin. Water and other methods of transformation have saved many manuals and reference books from the trash and turned them into these lovely treasures.

Barer on her work:

My photographs are primarily a documentation of a physical evolution. I have changed a common object into sculpture in a state of flux. The way we choose to research and find information is also in an evolution. I hope to raise questions about these changes, the ephemeral and fragile nature in which we now obtain knowledge, and the future of books.

Ivy Noise by Daniela di Maro & Roberto Pugliese

About the project:

Electric wires climb the white walls, following not a casual pattern, but a defined one, after an accurate study of the growth of the ivy. Black lines design organic forms; brances form which unusual flowers blossom: conical speakers of various dimentions. A previously defined soundscape is given forth by some of these peculiar buds which acts as a background to the acoustic improvisation, determined instead by the human presence. Every noise is being captured by a series of microphones and random samples are taken in real time by a custom designed software, and rendered back through the speakers. Voices, steps, movements, nourish the installation. The totally synthetic sound, generated by this technological parasite creates however the illusion of being in a natural environment. A psychoacoustic journey, in which nothing stands still; everything is being transformed in an unstoppable and impromptu process of metamorphism. An experience which through multisensory stimulation creates a relation between man and technology, hypothesizing not only a peaceful coexistence of the two elements, but even an eco-sustainable hybridization, reinforced by the use of recycled materials.

This mixture of natural and manmade sounds can be heard in this video:

Alexis Sachs’s charming repurposed pocket watches contain representations of cells and molecules.