Dumpster Feast (2004) was created in response to the quantity of edible food discarded by food retailers every day, whether for financial reasons, concern about public liability, or due to ignorance or apathy.
The food was collected over one day from only four different dumpsters. It was then prepared ready to eat, and displayed at the VCA Sculpture installation room. Invitations were sent out to participate in the launch of the “feast” but on arrival guests were denied the pleasure of eating the food. Instead, it stayed in the installation room for a full week, developing a soft fur of mould and an acrid stench. While this may seem contradictory to the project, it was imperative that the food be left to spoil to emphasise the disgrace of such waste on a comparatively minute scale.
A short video of the project compiles, the gleaning process, interviews with retailers, and the “feast” documentation of the food’s decay.
The artist and her housemates, colleagues and family continue to eat heartily from bins.
Images: Dumpster Feast, 2004
Materials: Food, silverware, candles, table, tablecloths
Dimensions: 280 x 145 x 140 cm Copyright G. de Vietri 2004
