I'm working on a shadow puppet project with Daniel Wallace and we need cardboard to make large stencil/screens. Now that chipboard is no longer conveniently available in the architecture studio, its time to find other ways of getting free materials. I remember working for the Children's Circus in Middletown we used to always pick up donations of large sheets of cardboard from an industrial box company in Portland, OR called Stone- Smurfitt. So I googled industrial box making companies here in Portland, OR and gave the nearest one a call. I explained to the kind receptionist that I was working on a project as part of the Appendix Project Space's show for Last Thursday, and that we were looking for any amount of large cardboard that they were willing to get rid of for free. After consulting with a manager she gave me a call back and told me to come one down. When we walked in, the manager, Jeff, who knew we were coming, pulled out a sheet listing all the different sizes of cardboard they sold and asked what I needed. I told him I needed as many of the largest single sheets he could spare, and he came back with ten 2 x 6 ft pieces. Score.
Today Elizabeth and Josh went downtown to the Oregonian newspaper, who gave them three rolls each of free newsprint for their projects.
Free materials = more money for beer.
2 comments:
This is a sweet story! i'm glad you got some free boxes! i've been really into the idea of buying as few materials as possible lately. i think that this approach leads to more involved and relevant work to the area in which it was collected. everything you need is being thrown out by somebody! i also think that this makes your work inherently grounded in the location it was produced, which i feel is growing increasingly important in the age of mechanical and electronic reproduction. there's a walter benjamin essay ('scuse me) called "art in the age of mechanical reproduction" which adresses the issue of authenticity and originality in light of new(er) media. you guys might like it.
you can read it here:
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/modern/The-Work-of-Art-in-the-Age-of-Mechanical-Reproduction.html
i've always had trouble when i start thinking about aura and fetish and the art object. especially now that i am working at a professional studio, it makes me feel like the whole thing is a sham.
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