plums for trash

plums_for_trash_17

plums for trash / slivi za smet  сливи за смет/ ciruelas por basura / damaskina gia skoupidia  δαμάσκηνα για σκουπίδια

2011-2013

Plums for Trash is a participatory work involving the exchange of unwanted objects between the general publics of New York City, Bulgaria, Mexico and Greece.  

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Certain objects live with us in a limbo state. It’s unthinkable to put them in the trash; to let them go without receiving something in return. Until then, they sit forgotten, or worse, lurk as reminders.

From 2011-2013, I conducted Plums for Trash: Mobile Market for International Trash Exchange, with the principle that most anything could be trash and anything could be desired. My nomadic pop-up shop was fueled by a faith that I could find homes for these objects by simply relocating them.

I set the rules and did my best to follow them. I would fill one suitcase with my own objects I no longer wanted. I would not take money in exchange for an object (retired currency was acceptable). I would not keep any objects for personal use. All exchanges must take place in person, negotiation was encouraged, but I would be the final arbiter of value.

I must move objects from one country to the next, exchanging an entire generation of objects in one place before moving to the next. I must record the exchange with a drawing. I could not accept anything larger than the suitcase.


I traded over 300 items with people of all ages, economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Believing that almost anything could be trash and anything could be desired, I found homes for objects by moving them to new contexts.

Starting in Sofia, Bulgaria as a collaboration with UCSB Anthropology Professor, Elana Resnick, Plums for Trash eventually included intersections with economists, non-profit organizations, other alternative economies and artist-run spaces around the world. The project was documented with drawings, audio recordings, and photographs.

links:

Plums for Trash in Chilchota, Mexico at Galeria Perdida

press:

Culture Hour on Bulgarian National Television (Plums for Trash is featured 30 min. into the show)

Radio Bulgaria: “Two New Yorkers in Sofia”

Bulgarian National Radio: “Plums for Trash, from the flea markets of New York to Sofia’s Bitak,”

(weekly program on consumerism)

Discarded Studies: Plums for Trash and the Object Ethnography Project Praxis-Based Value Networks