Two large scale composites. One, discarded car windscreen wiper rubbers shaped into stars, then assembled together as a montage. Two, broken shards of car windscreen glass, assembled into a giant spiral with wings. The site: an informal dumping ground at El Tremolar, on the outskirts of Valencia.
Discarded windscreen wiper rubber laid into the shape of a star.
Windscreen wiper array: “stars of the cosmos”. 2020. (2 metres x 1 metre).
Shards of glass from a shattered car windscreen were strewn across disused land at El Tremolar, Valencia. On impusive I began to re-arrange the glass into a spiral. As the sun was setting, I thought to cover it to return another day to continue.
Returning to find the original shape undisturbed a couple of weeks later, I expanded the spiral outwards.
A closer look at the shards of windscreen glass.
Returning another time, I thought to penetrate the spiral with another shape, adding a triangle.
After 4 visits to the site, the star circle of broken car windscreen wiper glass was completed.
Hundreds of pieces of junk have been disposed at this site at El Tremolar. Sometimes the imagery is eerily captivating.
Heaps of clothing can be dumped at this informal site at El Tremolar, Valencia. Close ups of these items of dirty, muddy clothing were arranged into this composite .
Example of close up of clothing.
Dumped clothing arranged into a composite. El Tremolar, Valencia.
The final clothing project composite: 4 metres x 3 metres. Montage of images of dumped clothing items. 2021. El Tremolar, Valencia.
Discarded foam from refrigerators. El Tremolar, Valencia.
Discarded tiles. El Tremolar.
An idea was to collect unique bits of material, each into their own loose sphere. The intention was to build these up into a composite. El Tremolar, Valencia. 2020.
A first small composite of unique pieces of materials.
The idea was to create a “tapestry” from these spheres of separate items of waste.
Adding more colour, and sticking to the principle of using the same pieces of material waste in each sphere, eventually 56 unique spheres were created. Finding at least eight pieces of each item in a particular colour, was both time-consuming and increasingly hard to source.
Creating the “tapesty”…
Large composite “tapestry” consisting of spheres of waste items assembled together. Meant to mimic a large woven cloth. 2020. (5 metres by 3 metres).
El Tremolar informal dump site. Each visit would reveal “new old items” discarded. Some would be used for the next in situ project, some would be take home for something more particular.
Collecting together similar things into an order was often a beginning to something else.
Yellow cloth; a piece of green wood, a shiny purple board … was a way of creating possibility.
A piece of green plastic crate with two discarded itmes of cloth …
A ‘handful” of gloves; interestingly coloured scraps; two planks of soiled wood…
… arranging into composite …
Blue composite. 2019
Mattress spring corrosion imprinted onto foam; polycarbonate sheets; soiled rubber feet mats for cars; coiled electric cable. A fine combination for a composite!
Different day, different spectacle.
Where did all the trees go? Um, here!
Sometimes it was fun to collect together as many of one type of component as one could find. Let’s call this one Post Plumbing!
At El Tremolar, each visit would reveal a range of dumped waste. Everything under the sun!
Refrigerators.
Refrigerator drawer.
Discarded paint materials.
Pinedo beach, Valencia, 2019. On this day I joined a group of beach cleaners - all younger than 20 - who had arranged the outing! I was the only other person over 20; over 30; over 40; over 50. …. Congrats to these fine young forward thinkers. I concentrated on collecting ear bud sticks. Perhaps a container had been washed overboard a cargo ship - the beach was littered with them.
Pinedo beach, Valencia. Port cranes in the background make a distinct impression at this site.
Ear bud sticks shaped like a port crane.
Ear bud stick composite. 2019.
The end of the Turia, where river meets the sea at Pinedo.
When a nut and bolt rusts, it’s over - they get discarded. Nuts, washers and bolts dumped by the side of a road. A discarded drawer nearby, was used as a backdrop.
Informal dumpsite at La Punta, Valencia.
La Punta, Valencia. On this day hundreds of pieces of wooden cupboards and shelving.
La Punta, Valencia. Piles of abondoned clothing.
Informal dump site on the other side of the train tracks from La Punta, Valencia.
Informal dumping ground Patraix, Valencia. A site with a couple of abandoned estate buildings. On this day many discarded fridges and fridge foam.
Fridge Foam Dyptich. 2022.
Patraix, Valencia. In amongst the abandoned buildings, tons of discarded waste items of all configurations. This piece entitled: 13-Car Pile up.
Reclaimed horizontal planks and other pieces to be used as a hanging structure for exhibition. Dump site at Patraix, Valencia.
Records of culture 2021. Dump site at Patraix, Valencia. Working with waste one develops a philosophy about materials, waste and human culture in general. The irony of a hardware for recording music, our culture, and designed to memorise, being discarded because it is obsolete. Tape recorders no longer exist, as do CD’s and also to an extent vinyl.
Huertas of Campanar, Valencia.
Paterna, Valencia. In the huertas on the outskirts of Valencia, there is much discarded waste. A broken green bottle, re-assembled into a chain of parts, large to small. 2021.
Segunto, Valencia province. Abandoned factory buildings. An assembly of discarded cardboard boxes drawn across a street.
Segunto. Abandoned wharehouses.
Segunto. Abandoned wharehouse. Discarded orange pieces of rubber and foam.
La Creu Coberta, Valencia.
LA Torre, Valencia.
El Tremolar, Valencia. Returning to this dumpsite again and again, there were always new things to fiddle around with.
Diverted Turia or the new Turia waterway.
Discarded tiles in the Turia river bed.
Quick arrangement with tiles in the Turia.
Faitanar/Torrent, Valencia. 2021. Informal dump beside motorway.
Faitanar/Torrent, Valencia. 2021.
A group of Romainians live at this site and recycle: they salvage items to sell as scap in the city.
Electric cable.
Installation!
Squares.
Circles within squares.
Writing devices.
Makeshift house on informal dumpsite. Faitanar/Torrent, Valencia. 2021.
Informal dumpsite with informal housing. Faitanar/Torrent, Valencia. 2021.
Vacant land on the outskirts of Valencia has become an informal dumping ground for people’s waste.
Over the course of a few days, a collage of waste objects was contructed on the site. Overnight it was covered up with large waste items so the construction could be continued another day.
Overlooking the site is a factory called Puertas Cubells, who’s website states:
“More than 98 years of uninterrupted manufacturing guarantee our experience and that is why in the streets of the old neighborhoods of our cities you can still see a door installed almost a century ago. Today we do not stop innovating and introducing modern materials in the manufacture of our products. In recent years we have witnessed a general trend of taste for more aesthetic spaces, but without abandoning their functionality. Offering security by limiting as little as possible the creative process of the designer or decorator is one of the goals of Puertas Cubells.”
“Más de 98 años de fabricación ininterrumpida avalan nuestra experiencia y por ello en las calles de los barrios antiguos de nuestras ciudades aún se puede ver alguna puerta instalada hace casi un siglo. Hoy en día no cesamos de innovar e introducir modernos materiales en la fabricación de nuestros productos.
Asistimos en estos últimos años a una tendencia general del gusto por los espacios más estéticos, pero sin abandonar su funcionalidad. Ofrecer seguridad limitando lo menos posible al proceso creativo del proyectista o decorador es una de las metas de Puertas Cubells.”
