Use Values: Re/Imagining Urban Waste
Use Values was an iLANDing laboratory organized in collaboration with artist Katarina Jerinic and architect Juliette Spertus. The two-part workshop took place on a leftover piece of land at Exit 30 off the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, a site maintained by volunteers through the Adopt-A-Highway program which, according to the program’s mission, is devoted to “beautification or other aesthetic-related activities.” During the workshop, we used the location as a laboratory for exploring the role of waste, refuse, and acts of discarding in the formation of the urban landscape. We played along the spectrum of owning, consuming, and throwing away, and followed the paths of objects beyond the moment at which they are initially discarded. In addition to studying the combination of systems that act on the landscape, we took time to reorganize and reimagine the site through functional and aesthetic lenses. Finally, we hosted an open house to share food and discussion with other workshop participants and visitors.
Visit the project site here: https://usevalues.tumblr.com/
May 2, 1-4pm: Collect & Analyze In this first session, we will examine the ways the site is shaped by the movements of animate and inanimate material in and around the island triangle. What are the discernible forces acting on the site? How does this site participate in broader urban ecosystems? We will document our findings in the form of movement scores and maps that will be shared with future visitors in a letterbox onsite.
May 10, 1-5:30pm: Sort & Display In the second session, we will clean the site—collecting, re-organizing, and displaying discarded material. In addition to working with our observations of the site as we encounter it, we will also develop other possible uses for the site and its materials. We will conclude the session with an open house for visitors to experience the re-organized space and share food and discussion.
Led by Zena Bibler, Katarina Jerinic, and Juliette Spertus
Saturday May 2 1-4pm & Sunday May 10 1-4pm
Island between exit 30 off the eastbound BQE and Classon + Flushing Avenues in Brooklyn