Directly tied to the urban ecosystem of our concrete jungle is a less-obvious paper forest. Usually housed neatly in blue bins on the curb, this forest is brought into the light through ah'bé landscape architects' recent landscape installation "Shreddings Part 2: So What?."
ah'bé acknowledges that the process of design is traditionally paper intensive. But last year, when they decided to shred all of their waste paper from six weeks for the first installation in the three part shreddings series, A Garden Redrawn, they were awakened by the outcome. Their temporary garden turned out to be 160 feet-long by 18 inches-high.
In their most recent installation, this urban landscape architecture firm has fabricated a forest of 20 tree-like forms from three months of office paper shreddings (1000 lbs of material). They then ask, "so what?" to challenge our understanding of the word "sustainability" because, as ah'bé is concerned, "the word may be on the verge of becoming meaningless."
As landscape architects, we are both encouraged by the tremendous outpouring of energy in pursuit of a "greener" world currently and yet concerned that these efforts might eventually be swept downstream in the torrent of promotional buzz...The allure of these options invokes a strong emotional response in most of us as we hope to individually participate in minimizing our impact on the environment. The growing risk though is that the real purpose of all this effort will be lost amidst this clamour for our attention.
I asked Calvin Abe, principal of the firm, where the forest goes next in its lifecycle. He told me that they have been looking for a use for the shredded paper rather than dumping it back into the recycling bin. For now, each of the trees are for sale for a $250 donation to TreePeople.
Ask yourself "so what?" at Shreddings Part 2, open through May 18 at the MODAA Gallery, Museum of Design Art & Architecture, 8609 Washington Blvd., Culver City.
[top image courtesy of ah'bé landscape architects]
