Art Bin - Michael Landy

In a celebration of mistakes , acclaimed British artist Michael Landy transformed the South London Gallery into a 600m³ container for the disposal of works of art. Since the end of January artists and collectors have been bringing works to the gallery to create ‘a monument to creative failure’. Alex Hopkins caught up with him to see how the bin is getting along.

The Art Bin has been open since the end of January now. It must be getting pretty full. What sort of things are in there now?
All the things in the bin are now mingling and co-existing together to form a new and evolving art work. As new things have gone in they have damaged or destroyed what was underneath them, and I’ve found that a really exciting part of this work. There are all sorts of things in there now – cake, aubergines, polystyrene, paintings, sculpture, teddy bears, two entire degree shows…

What were your ideas behind Art Bin and what does it aim to explore?
I think there’s too much art in the world and we need to have a bit of a cull. Even good artists make bad works. Not everyone can make masterpieces all the time so I’m interested in the idea of what happens to all this work that has failed in some respect, either because it’s not very good or because the artist has decided it hasn’t worked in some way
 
Artists have to apply to have their work accepted in the Bin – what is your selection criteria and how hard do you find it to choose what goes into the Bin?
The bin is meant to be inclusive, not exclusive so the selection criteria reflect that. The only real stipulation is that it has to be an original work, it can’t be a print or a reproduction.
 
Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin have famously contributed to the bin. What were their thoughts and reactions to throwing their work in?
You’d have to ask them…I’m glad they did contribute, I’m taking it as read that because they contributed to the bin they both liked the idea!

What would you say to critics who claim that the bin is an apt comment on modern art, because so much of modern art is rubbish?
I don’t think modern art is rubbish but the work is obviously a play on that. More conservative members of the public might interpret the work in that way but it’s not what I think. The work points to the sometimes arbitrary way in which value is attributed to certain art works, the degree of censorship that goes on in the artist’s studio, the role the artist has in deciding if a work is a success or failure, as well as the art world as a system and the institutions within it. Hopefully we have moved on from the ‘70s when the Tate purchased Carl Andre’s Equivalent VIII, and the headline in The Daily Mirror was ‘What a load of rubbish’.

When the bin finally closes what do you hope it will have shown?
It’s not the end point that I’m concerned with so much as about what happens during the show. It’s not a tableaux, it’s an evolving piece of work which has taken on a life of its own. It’s at its most alive when artists are throwing something new into it.
 
What feedback have you had from people who have contributed work and also come to look at the bin?
Actually, what’s really been interesting to me are the stories people have told me about why they’ve decided to throw their work into the bin. Some have stopped being artists, other wanted to get rid of the work that was taking up too much space or reminded them of bad times, others were trying a new technique that failed for them in some way, others simply wanted to be a part of the bin.
 
Art Bin , South London Gallery, 65 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH, until 14th March