Tel Aviv has been invaded by a swarm of “Trash People.”
In what looks like a modern-day take on China’s terracotta warriors, hundreds of statues made entirely of garbage have been set up in the Israeli city as a part of a travelling exhibit.
German artist HA Schult used about 20 tons (18 tonnes) of waste – everything from cans to old computers – to create 1,000 life-sized forms, 500 of which went on display near Tel Aviv this week.
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In their 18 years touring the world, the “Trash People” have lined the Great Wall of China, stood on guard at the Matterhorn and been placed on guard before the Pyramids of Giza. They’ve even braved the frigid cold and snow of the Arctic and Antarctica.
In Tel Aviv, the “Trash People have been positioned in Ariel Sharon Park, which was built as a part of the Mount Hiriya landfill rehabilitation project on the outskirts of the city.
Hiriya is literally a mountain of trash. The landfill was open between 1952 and 1999, and during that period Hiriya rose to a height of 60 metres and expanded to hold 16 million cubic metres of garbage.
Schult, 74, has been turning garbage into art and installations since 1969.
“We live in the era of trash and we are running the risk of becoming trash ourselves,” he said of the exhibit in a 2011 interview.
His other trashy concepts include filling Venice’s St. Mark’s Square with old newspapers in 1976 and a temporary hotel set up on a Spanish beach, built from 12 tons (10.8 tonnes) of debris that had washed ashore. That 2010 project was funded by a $720,000 sponsorship from Corona beer.
Schult began touring the “Trash People” in 1996. While 500 remain on tour, the other half of the original 1,000 sculptures have been put up for sale.
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