Show me your waste – I show you mine

Every Monday, local residents gathered to bring the objects they no longer needed to a shared collection point. Each week, three artists engaged with these discarded materials, transforming what had been thrown away into temporary sculptures and site-specific installations. The process unfolded in dialogue with the surrounding community, revealing new meanings in what was once considered waste.

Each Sunday, the studios opened to the public for an Open Studio event, accompanied by talks and performances held in evocative spaces throughout the former Tetterode factory — a historic building that now houses a vibrant community of artists living and working under one roof.

The project was inaugurated by Ester Fabriek, municipal executive for public space, greenery, and waste management.

Artists affiliated with POUBELLE are exploring the possibilities of creating artworks from items and materials donated to them by local residents.
For POUBELLE’s new project, neighbors have been invited to give the artists an item they were planning to throw away. The artists will then explore whether they can turn it into a work of art.
The items can be anything: a broken chair or table, a curtain, garden tools, or materials left over from renovations. For these artists, anything can be material for creating a new, abstract, and playful work of art.
On four consecutive Sundays, the results will be displayed in the artists’ studio, accompanied by a program of music, lectures, and performances.

All participating artists are: Petra van Aken, AKMAR, Ronald de Ceuster, Gertruud Dentjens, Porter Ellerman, Harm Hajonides, Mikel van Gelderen, Marjolein Knottenbelt, Katrin Korfmann, Guda Koster and Frans van Tartwijk, Joanneke Meester, Jef Nollet, Pannas and Tulip, Lisbeth Parisius, Maria Timmermans, Marianne Theunissen, HF van Steensel, Ton Zwerver
Curated by: Mirjam Berloth and Lisbeth Parisius

About POUBELLE  Can you love a thing? And does that thing love you? Can you just throw away an object that has served you well for years? Are the scratches on its surface a disfigurement or rather an embellishment? Can the remaining planks and stones become a sculpture?
These are questions that preoccupy the artists of POUBELLE. For them, buying new materials has become increasingly uncomfortable in an age of growing climate awareness. That is why, as artists, they refuse to participate in a throwaway culture and only use materials that are already available and bear traces of previous use. Their artistic process is characterized by experimentation, playful exploration, and simple abstraction.
There is a deep connection with society in their approach to art; the discarded materials, although used in an abstract way, bear the traces of the previous owner’s daily life; traces that inspire and challenge them. 

Many thanks to the people at Woon Werk Pand Tetterode and to the volunteers for their hospitality. 
Show me your waste – I show you mine was made possible with a  contribution from the AFK and the Municipality of Amsterdam.