Artist in Residence / São Paulo

Conference panel member:

‘Paradigm Shifts // Changing Lifestyles, Redefining Stakeholder Responsibilities and Communication Strategies’

…at the International Solid Waste World Congress, Brazil:

The International Solid Waste Association’s declared mission is “to promote and develop sustainable and professional waste management worldwide”, and it has a vision of “an Earth where no waste exists.” Its 2014 congress was held from 8th–11th September in São Paulo, the seventh most populous metropolis in the world, its population of over 21,000,000 people presenting enormous challenges for waste management.

Interview:

Q: Why Brazil?

The International Solid Waste Association invited me to exhibit and speak at their annual conference in São Paulo, Brazil, during September 2014. As an organisation they are committed to protecting human health and the environment as well as ensuring sustainable resource management. As an artist the invitation provided a rich opportunity to meet with professionals from within the industry whilst also contributing to a panel discussion titled: Paradigm Shift: Changing Lifestyles, Re-defining the Responsibilities of Stakeholders and Communication Strategies.

Q: What has ‘solid waste’ got to do with art?

I work at the intersection between Art and Ecology, at times working with large scale waste from manufacturing processes. Sometimes this has meant my materials are as diverse as 7500 ice-cream containers or 45 decommissioned musical instruments. I’m continuing in the tradition of a rich vein of arts practice related to ‘Found Objects’ as well as Eco Art.

Essentially the work questions the value we place upon rejected matter or materials. For me waste products provide a valuable resource that tells me something about the way in which we live, work and relate to the planet that supports us.

Q: What was the most challenging part of the residency?

Visiting a landfill that accepts 600 lorries of waste a day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When you stop to consider that waste creation is something that is happening continually then our relationship with the planet is constantly challenging its capacity to cope. I witnessed a fraction of an urban areas ‘discharge’ and it made me realise the equally catastrophic or potentially beneficial effects of our actions can have.

Q: What will you take away from the experience?

I have been able to experience a densely layered set of realities. From a corporate conference with over 1000 delegates, originating from 68 countries; to a waste pickers co- operative that supports 30 families.

For all the differentiation across social or monetary boundaries the potential impact of each and every one of these people is connected, as are you and I, via a supply chain that’s operating 365 days of the year. From consumer behaviour to political affiliation, purchasing power to personal choice, we are implicated in a global market in terms of resource extraction, depletion and potential re-invigoration.

Ultimately, what’s vital in terms of the way in which this story plays out is whether or not we are as beholden to profit as were are to the planet. As the Vice-Mayor for Culture and Tourism, Antwerp, Belgium put it:

“Waste doesn’t come from itself. It is the mirror of our society…it is the mirror of who we are.”

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The interview above originally appeared in a CVAN (Contemporary Visual Art Network) article ‘Spotlight: Robyn Woolston in São Paulo’

: http://www.cvan.art/news/2014/10/24/spotlight-robyn-woolston-in-sao-paulo )