In September 2011 Basurama organized a workshop at the BMW Guggenheim in New York.

The aim of the project was to give the participants an idea about waste. We wanted them to understand waste as a resource of knowledge, that can teach us about economy, anthropology, sociology, as well as to be a resource for creativity. During the workshop we had different approaches to different kinds of trash.We discussed the wide concept of waste in contemporary society, ranging from the personal waste we directly produce, to the one in a city scale at a landscape level.
We spent the rest of the time “hands on” waste, as we think it is the best way to address the topic.

The two days’ workshop consisted in different parts:

Understanding waste
Saturday, September 3, 2011, 11–2 pm

What is waste, and what can waste tell us about who we are? Join creative collective Basurama in this presentation and hands-on workshop to analyze trash from New York City and gain better insight into the city’s consumption processes. Participants are invited to bring their own nonorganic waste produced in the previous 24 hours. Bring your paper cups, wrappers, and cans to the Lab and participate in an insightful discussion about the inherent creativity of trash, where waste comes from, and where it ultimately ends up.

Trash Safari
Saturday, September 3, 2011, 2–5 pm

Participate in a trash safari in the vicinity of the Lab and learn about domestic and public waste in the area. The safari will be led by Basurama, a creative collective based in Boston and Madrid whose work focuses on the study of waste.

Denise Scott Brown in Conversation with Basurama
Saturday, September 3, 2011, 7–9 pm

Architect, writer, and urban planner Denise Scott Brown, a principal of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates and an author of the influential book Learning from Las Vegas, engages in a conversation with Basurama’s Juan López-Aranguren and Pablo Rey Mazón. Join them in a discussion about waste, its role in our lives, its place at the roots of our creativity, and its artistic possibilities in architecture and urbanism.

Garbology: A Trash Tour
Sunday, September 4, 2011, 10–4 pm 12-5 pm

Leaving from: BMW Guggenheim Lab
Mode of transportation: bus

Join creative collectives Basurama and Trashpatch on a bus journey through the five boroughs to investigate the life of trash in New York City. During this narrated tour, explore the consequences of our consumer actions by tracing the routes that trash takes through our urban landscape and the natural environment.

This tour is a public arts tour that investigates the life of trash in New York City. Focusing on plastic waste and the implications that stem from this type of pollution.

Trash takes several routes; household discards are routed through a defined public collection system, street and subway litter follows a pathway through sewers systems, often with the end result of being deposited into local waterways. By navigating the routes that trash takes, we aim to paint a picture of the interplay between trash and the environment. Investigations and public interactions will occur along three routes, each ending at a coastal location where trash is temporarily collected and prepared for further shipping to a processing/dumping facility. By traveling through these routes, we offer an opportunity for people to understand the energy and resources devoted to trash, as well as the degree to which what we produce and use is designed and intended to be disposable.