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Courtesy of musicMagpie
11
make.co
FACING E-WASTE
HEAD ON
EDENPROJECT.COM | JOERUSH.COM
E-waste is a bittersweet subject for the maker
community. Our love of tech and electronic
experimentation generates e-waste, while at
the same time we’re commited to ideas like the
right to repair, upcycling, and creative reuse.
Overshadowing any discussion of the topic,
however, is the staggering mountain of actual
tech trash on the planet — the UN estimates 53
million tons are generated globally each year.
With its ubiquity eclipsed only by the endless
new product cycles, how do we draw attention to
the ever-growing hazards of electronic waste?
Enter Mt. Recyclemore, the tongue-in-cheek yet
deadly serious installation created by lead artists
Joe Rush and Alex Wreckage in partnership
with UK tech reseller musicMagpie. With the
help of 15 collaborating artists/makers and over
20,000 pieces (12 tons) of e-waste, the pair led
the construction of the monumental piece over
six weeks in Rush’s South London studios.
Erected in Cornwall for the 2021 G7 Summit
held there, the sculpture depicts the busts (à la
South Dakota’s Mt. Rushmore) of G7 leaders writ
large, each 3m×1m head constructed entirely
out of old toasters, phones, speakers, screens,
and other electronic detritus. Although its
timing and location (it could be seen across the
water from where the summit was held) were
a pointed statement to the leaders of countries
that collectively produce much of the world’s
e-waste, Rush noted to The Guardian at the time
that, “It’s not just a politician’s problem; it’s a
problem that the human race has to deal with.”
Following its mini tour to Manchester, Mt.
Recyclemore has returned to Cornwall to be
housed for a year at the Eden Project, an eco-
park and educational charity dedicated to building
relationships between people and the natural
world to demonstrate the power of working
together for the benefit of all living things. Amidst
the park’s iconic biomes, it stands as a shiny
testament to technological triumph and the folly
of conspicuous consumption. —Jennifer Blakeslee
M83_10-13_MOE_F1.indd 11M83_10-13_MOE_F1.indd 11 10/10/22 10:02 AM10/10/22 10:02 AM
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