From the Garbage Bin to Interactive Art

ART | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Garbage dumping is considered to be a social epidemic of post-modern times. In Uganda, one might find large deposits of litter around city centers. This is partly because there are minimal options for recycling, unlike the West where there can be a selection of options to recycle and reuse garbage.

The Garbage Collectors project 2014 which took place in Kampala, sought to solve this problem by engaging five Ugandan eco-artists – Ronald Ronex Ahimbisibwe, Stephen Xenson Senkaaba, Helen Nabukenya, Bruno Rungazu and Sandra Suubi – to communicate to the public about garbage recycling through functional objects and/or art. Though it was a one off, it instigated artists to create art that is relatable to the public needs, therefore fostering a relationship between artist, art and public.

Ronex’s descriptive installations in the gardens of the Uganda Museum in April 2014 made an interactive impact. The two towering installations measuring over seven-feet tall stood side by side inviting the public to play with them. He chose to use metal sheets and bottle tops collected from outskirts of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. The installations provided welcome seating for visitors to feast on their food and drinks. According to the artist, the idea was to have the audience complete the installation by interacting with it through sitting on its exterior and dumping the plastic bottles and other refuse in its interior. He remarked, “I want the public to interact with my work by dumping their garbage in these garbage bins.”

The element of interaction and participation was also visible in Bruno Ruganzu’s installation of the imposing Crazy Chicken draped in luminous colors. The Crazy Chicken was incomplete. Ruganzu had intended for there to be slides that would engage the audience in child-like play. In spite of this, according to the artist, hordes of guests spared no time to take ‘selfie’ pictures beside it. In this way, the chicken became a temporary monument that inspired another art genre: photography.

This spontaneous engagement is ironic because the message the artist was trying to pass on to his audience was about the potential danger of over consumption of chicken. “Many young people especially on university campus consume chicken without really knowing the negative impact this has on their health. If you look carefully at the chicken, it’s wearing a sarcastic look in its eyes,” he says.

Xenson’s multi-layered metaphorical installation of a fashion mannequin with a cluster of beer cans bursting out of her belly forming a long tail of cans, illustrated the power of expressive visual attempts. More so, the beer cans -foreign in nature- expounded the idea of consumption. “It’s a mockery to consumerism and the rot that comes with it… we are living in a society that is filled with so much rot like corruption, prostitution and homosexuality,” he observed.

The fashion statement, as seen through his installation, was a commentary on the culture of keeping up appearances. “Most of these people who put on expensive suits are hiding something beneath them. They are stealing tax payers’ money; and making laws that make it hard for the average person to survive,” noted the artist.

Conversely, Suubi’s decorative and abstract installation conveyed the message of self-belief and determination symbolized by two abstract plastic gigantic eggs. One egg not yet hatched and the other already hatched with the nestling, envisioned the possibility of flying out and start a new life. The artwork may well have served as a back-drop to a performance stage, but not installed on the city streets where it could easily be vandalized because of its abstractness. Both Xenson and Suubi expressed their thought processes without necessarily being instructive. Their choice of media and technique invited attention from the public to engage and find meaning in the artists’ respective presentations.

This collaboration between The Garbage Collectors project 2014 and Ugandan environmental artists was representative of socially conscious art. As such, it gave artists an opportunity to work with a variety of media and technique, at the same time extending their work to the public. In addition, the public was given a chance to use and interact with the creativity of artists and art.

The Garbage Collectors’ Exhibition 2014 was made possible by Hivos and Afrika Arts Kollective.

The full article first appeared in Startjournal.org as part of the reviews/ critiques produced by the writer under the Art Writing Residency program supported by 32⁰East, British Council and Kampala Arts Trust.

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