Trash Mash-Up at SF State Human rights Summit

[Trash Mash-Up]

Trash Mash-Up, a community art project, will be hosting a Mash-Up Bash
at the San Francisco State University 5th Annual Human Rights
Summit: Privileged Destruction: Examining Environmental Justice on
Friday, May 2, 2008 at 4:00pm. This summit is a unique event in that
it is wholly devised, organized, and hosted by the students of
Professor Mariana Ferreira's Anthropology and Human Rights class. The
summit has served as a forum not only for students’ academic research
and inquiries, but for other kinds of conversation as well; a
fundamental component of all past summits has been the acclamation and
celebration of alternative channels of knowledge and activism, such as
play and poetry readings, film screenings, multimedia exhibits, and
dance, music, and spoken word performances.  For information, go to:
http://trashmashup.googlepages.com/
Trash Mash-Up’s mission is to bring vitality to the community. Using
public art projects, Trash Mash-Up (TMU) connects our creative
traditions to our collective future. TMU is committed to realizing
the potential value in our everyday disposable objects by transforming
them into innovative “Maskostumes”. Through workshops and public
pageants, TMU supports extended communities and an environmentally
conscious culture.
Trash Mash-Up is a collaborative community art project. Using
disposable materials, collected before they enter the waste stream,
participants construct “Maskostumes” which are original pageant masks
and costumes inspired by traditions from around the world. TMU
enriches our community by developing creative connections amongst the
participants in addition to raising awareness about cultural
traditions and environmental issues. This project reduces waste and
inspires people to see each other and our environment in a new way.
The founding members of Trash Mash-Up graduated from the Dell'Arte
International School of Physical Theatre. Drawing from their talent
for creating original theatrical productions and their commitment to
serving the larger community, TMU is a socially and environmentally
conscious art project. TMU shares cultural traditions with diverse
communities in public performances and workshops. Reducing waste by
using trash to make art, TMU reminds all of San Francisco that one
person's trash could become an entire city's treasure.
Trash Mash-Up culminates with a Mash-Up Bash, a public performance
pageant. Transforming parks and city squares with a visual spectacle
made of music, movement, and “Maskostumes”, spectators enjoy works of
art created from things disregarded by one person and then given new
life through another’s imagination. With trash bag boas and bottle-
cap chain mail, Trash Mash-Up builds creative connections and raises
environmental awareness throughout our community as a new urban
tradition is fostered.