Would you buy trash?
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It turns out that quite a few people will. An artist named Justin Gignac has sold over a thousand clear cubes full of neatly labeled trash found on the streets. (Read the story on NPR if you’d like to know more.)
I thought this quote from the artist describing the trash cubes was interesting:
But it’s kind of funny to see people’s perceptions. When initially they were $10, they were kind of like a gag gift, a little bit of a joke. Then as the price grew, now that they’re $50 and $100, people started discussing them as artwork, which there’s nothing different about the garbage except for the price, but people’s perceptions have completely changed.”
It’s very true. Slap a big price tag on something, and people think it must be worth something. They want it more. They talk about it as if it’s important. When really, sometimes it’s just trash.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Ugh! People and money.