Friend of Unconsumption Yellow Owl...

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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We welcome your tips, suggestions, and feedback. Contact: unconsumption@gmail.com

[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

7:27 am - Wed, Oct 5, 2011: 87 notes

High-Res

Friend of Unconsumption Yellow Owl Workshop (previous mention here) hipped us to this artwork made from thousands of discarded lottery tickets.

To make the large-scale collages, the New York-based artist collaborative known as Ghost of a Dream, a.k.a. Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom, uses scratch-off tickets found on sidewalks and corner shops, among other places, and romance novel covers collected from thrift stores and sellers on Craigslist.

From Davidson Contemporary:

The artist collaborative Ghost of a Dream works with sculpture and installation to embody the essence of opulence, through construction of materials that typically end up in the trash. They mine popular culture for detritus that people use to attain their goals. Whether it is a romance novel someone reads to transport them into a dream reality, a religious tract promising the glory of eternal life, or a lottery ticket that gives the possibility of a future full of decadence, Ghost of a Dream uses these remnants to re- create peoples hopes and aspirations.

Pictured: Detail of Dream Home (2009); the installation’s materials include $70,000 worth of lottery tickets. Photo via Ghost of a Dream.