Artwork
Hortirecycling Enterprise, act II
Lucy Orta, 1997-1999
- Ref: 0600.02
- Materials: Public Intervention
- Catalogued: Exhibition catalogue Weiner Secession 1999; p68 Lucy Orta Phaidon Press 2003
- Exhibition history: 1999 Weiner Secession, Austria
- Courtesy: Weiner Secession, Austria
- Concept: Following on from the All in One Basket project initiated in 1997, HortiRecycling Enterprise act II took place in Vienna, drawing from the founding motto of the Wiener Secession “To every age its art and to art its freedom” and the proximity of the fruit and vegetable Naschmarkt opposite the gallery. Instead of discarding their overripe fruit and vegetables on the floor, the market vendors were given Collect Units brightly colored, silkscreen-printed bags, to fill with rejected produce throughout the day. The artists collected the bags of fruit and vegetables using the Processing Units mobile kitchens with integrated shopping carts, sinks, hotplates, and freezers. The ripe produce was cleaned, chopped, and cooked by the Viennese chef Han Staud on location in the market. They distributed the fresh delicacies to encourage the public to take up these kinds of sustainable initiatives.
In the Wiener Secession’s first-floor gallery, a fully-functioning kitchen complete with a Collect Unit Pulley, a wooden winch reminiscent of the medieval pulley systems used to haul groceries in baskets to the upper floors of tall buildings. Using this device, market produce was delivered to the gallery, cleaned, cooked, and then bottled or frozen in dainty portions ready for distribution. This pilot action took place in both the market and the gallery, illustrating the multiple possibilities of a recycling enterprise and at the same time bringing together an art institution, the street, and the different communities involved.
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