It's all about the message, and this time it is not in a bottle. Here, the message is the bottle that we throw away in our garbage bins, may or may not recycle, or repurpose ourselves.
FeoFlip, an artist and painter from Tenerife (originally from Lanzarote, Canary Islands), came to Antwerp, Belgium for almost three months to create Trash Art. He has left his mark significantly as he worked together with Treepack - an international street art agency - and Piazza - an organisation for young creatives.
14 Youngsters and the artist built a Dung Beetle from trash which they collected in their streets and on the riverline of the Scheldt. Plastic, metal, rope, you can find it all thanks to littering and 'modern civilization'.
Not only did this dung beetle see the light of day, various other installations by the artist are now visible at Stormkop, Antwerp.
During these works, we met Thomas from River Cleanup. This guy is the driving force behind this organisation, and is very eager to clean up our rivers. The past year he's been setting up River Cleanup projects all over Europe. During River Cleanup day - which for obvious reasons is the same day as World Clean up day - the participants gathered more than 6 tonnes of trash from the Scheldt River. Just imagine all the other cities that were participating...
To make a tribute, or better yet, a symbol for this epic journey of zero trash, FeoFlip literally went into the river and dragged out all the plastic objects he could find to create this massive piece. An old pier remains near the shoreline, virtually washed away by the tides. This served as the perfect structure for the message the artist wanted to tell:
"If in the past dinosaurs reigned the earth, in the future the garbage will. The plastics, the non-degradable waste, it will return from the bottom of the sea to reign the earth and humanity."
"I call it, Trashorio."
To top it off, yours truly quickly hopped onto the abandoned boat to attach some ropes in order to hoist the River Cleanup flag.
Pretty don't you think. Or does it make you think? We sure hope so.
For your information: if you happen to be in the neigborhood and want to visit this piece, make sure you check the river tides. At certain times you can only see the head of the trashosaurus.
More info: treepack.net
FeoFlip builds Trashosauros in the Scheldt River (Antwerp) for River Cleanup day
The flag, the plastic.
Make sure you got the right end tied to the flag.
A before and after picture never hurts.
The river high tide.
It's up!
The participants of River Cleanup day in Antwerp, who gathered at Stormkop - a former shipyard turned into a cultural free harbour for young (and old).
