Regarding The Discarded
Presented by Artscapes, a public art initiative run by Spaceworks Tacoma, Regarding the Discarded engages with mill waste as material and provocation, using objects and a question to spark dialogue about the definitions and values assigned to art.
The central question—Are we, as artists, transforming waste into something valuable, or merely creating a different kind of waste?—lays bare the subjectivity inherent in art. This inquiry invites viewers to reflect on their own frameworks for defining and valuing art, contrasting these with the perspectives of artists or cultural institutions. By focusing on waste and its artistic reimagining, the installation seeks to disrupt our habitual patterns of perception. It asks: When do we pause, challenge assumptions, and discover potential connections in the ordinary or discarded?
The Story
The wooden objects displayed here originate from mill waste, thin veneers set aside in 2007 during a lumber-processing project in our studio. Typically, such waste would have been repurposed as kindling, but the sheer volume of veneers demanded our attention. We began bundling them with glue and clamps—an effort to make them manageable rather than meaningful at the time.
For over a decade, these bundles sat untouched in storage, forgotten until 2018, when a need to reclaim space forced their rediscovery. Returning to the band saw, the very tool used in their original creation, we worked intuitively, trimming and shaping until these objects emerged. Only after their completion did the question surface: Are these pieces an act of transformation or merely a reframing of waste?
Imagine these same objects not here, within this curated display, but abandoned on a sidewalk. Would you regard them differently? The line between waste and art is delicate, determined as much by context as by form. In the end, the value of these objects—and perhaps of art itself—rests not in their material, but in the act of looking and the questions that follow.
Exhibition Dates and Location:
April 18 2019 - July 24 2019 Woolworth Window # 1 , Corner of 11th St. and Commerce St. Tacoma, WA
