Rubbish piece of art is all about litter
House has been ‘decorated’ to make point
A VIVID art display to draw attention to the amount of rubbish spoiling the countryside has been set up in Loughborough.
An assortment of litter, including plastic bags, polystyrene takeaway trays and barbeque sets has been stuck together and put up the side of a semi-detached house in Burton Street, opposite Loughborough High School.
The curious installation has the appearance of a climbing plant, with the line of rubbish extending from the ground floor up the drainpipe and along the roof of the twostorey property, as well as between the two rows of windows.
Pieces of wire, like vines or tendrils, with cut-out cardboard leaves, also form part of the display, complete with several plastic bags attached to a tree outside the house.
The artwork is the creation of Andy Harper and is part of a project called Up Your Street, which will include theatre and visual art productions in Leicester, Leicester Forest East and Loughborough.
A notice about the display outside the house says: “This is an interactive installation built using rubbish collected from the local area.
“L ockdown saw a marked rise in litter - especially in the countryside.
“The installation will attempt to raise awareness to the issues that we face with litter both culturally and environmentally, from small items of waste being dropped through to the global waste crisis that we are faced with.”
Proximity sensors have been fitted so passersby will trigger sounds of the rubbish being cut and compressed, which is meant to emulate sounds found in nature, such as the blowing of wind through the leaves or the song of a morning bird.
The notice includes points to consider such as how to deal with litter when there are no bins around and how to use less packaging, and encourages people to join a litter picking group and tell others about the project.
You can find out more about the art installation, called Leavings, on the Andy Harper website.
This is an interactive installation built using rubbish collected from the local area