| Artistic Category | artist |
|---|---|
| Career Level | Professional |
| Experienced With | Collaboration, Commissions, For-hire services, Leading workshops, Lectures, Performances, Public art, Speaking engagements, Teaching engagements |
RiverCubes are works of philosophy, labors of love, and belong to the rivers: they are urban watershed signatures & interruptions into the “business as usual” of waste…Waste is something we do, not something that is...
The stuff of RiverCubes is human-made: wrested from nature, wrought to our will… Used for a time, then discarded when no longer “useful” or “valued.” Where does this stuff come from? Where does it go?? These questions guide a strategy I call Artful Trash Management. From a human ecology point of view two facts distinguish this region: we live in one of the most reliable watersheds in the United States yet are among the least compliant with the Clean Water Act. We also accept landfill from neighboring states with higher population densities: our land wealth “affords” revenue & waste streams. RiverCubes provoke reflection on these and related issues. Our common approach to everyday stuff that we no longer want is to place it out of sight: in the trash, in landfills, in rivers and lakes… These RiverCubes were rescued from that fate, and are offered for public viewing with mischievous pleasure. The poster/maps names names and indicates collection sites. The Cubes have traveled the city, incited performance events, and want to live near where they were collected.
RiverCubes aim to change the way we understand and relate to waste streams of our own production.
ATM affirms that we have much to gain by coming to terms with the stuff we produce and discard: Let's promote and enjoy better habits of production, consumption, and reclamation! Less really can be more!!
Helper Brothers & Sisters Unite!!! Bob Johnson, June 2004, Pittsburgh, PA
Bob Johnson is a philosopher by disposition and training, fine art fabricator and installer by profession, and do-gooding troublemaker by vocation. Upon completing his doctorate in philosophy Bob decided to teach "at large" combining activities in philosophy, art, and human ecology. Artful Trash Management is a phrase he coined to chart the territory of his ongoing theoretical and practical engagement with consumer culture discards and industrial ‘by-products’ as they relate to human ecological impacts. RiverCube Projects allow Bob to work and play at river’s edge with a focus on water quality and solid waste management in pursuit of understanding and transforming mechanisms of cultural contagion... Ongoing ecoventions continue in Pittsburgh with a new series of RavineCubes. RiverCube projects have also taken root in Middletown & Hartford CT, and are in development in NY, Boston, Rome & Brisbane. He was a case study delegate in the Urban Issues session of the 9th annual Riversymposium on Managing rivers with climate change and expanding populations in Brisbane, Australia! And recently delivered a video/slide lecture as part of a seminar on Art, Sustainability, & Social Sculpture in Weimar, Germany...