A series of environmentally-conscious public art displays officially open Thursday in Camden, timed to coincide with Earth Day 2021.
Instillations include a giant black cat made of recycled car hoods, a turntable created with plastic bottles and face masks and a 17-foot-tall robot with a heart that beats for his planet.
Those and more are available to peruse throughout various Camden neighborhoods starting today after a year-long delay due to COVID-19.
The artwork, which is made from recycled materials, looks to spotlight the issue of illegal dumping. It’s a problem that costs taxpayers in the Camden County municipality more than $4 million a year, according to the city.
The eight “A New View — Camden” projects include six sculptures, smaller “pod parks” (lounge and seating areas at each of the sites) and a photo series. Artists for the six-month-long exhibition were chosen by curators Judith Tannenbaum and Camden native Kimberly Camp from 131 applicants, as part of a nationwide contest.
There’s also one artist, who wasn’t part of the initial unveiling in January 2020, that will have her work on display as well: 17-year-old Rachel Jimenez.
The project’s garbage-collecting robot wouldn’t be complete without the heart she designed.
“I thought about nature and how pretty the planet is and could be if we kept it happy and clean,” said Jimenez, an 11th grader at Creative Arts Morgan Village Academy in Camden. “This lovely planet is a precious thing that we need to protect…. The world may not be the absolute best, but it still has pretty cool stuff here that we shouldn’t forget about, like sea bunnies.”
The “Mechan 11” may not be animated like sea bunnies but you wouldn’t know from talking to its creators, Tyler FuQua and Jason Hutchinson of FuQua Creations.
“He’s known as ‘The Collector’ by fellow robots, or ‘it’ rather. It’s a robot. Not a he or a she,” FuQua said, laughing.
The Collector — made of steel, recycled parts and scrap metal — stands near the State Street Pedestrian Bridge. A transparent bag hangs over its shoulder filled with rimless tires, an empty kerosene canister and a defective CPU. With a stick in hand, the jovial robot — which will also light up at night — impales a broken washing machine to properly dispose of it.
FuQua Creations, based in Eagle Creek, Oregon, has built robots for a variety of events including “Burning Man” and the “Life is Beautiful” music festival — both in Nevada. The pair hope “Mechan 11” will find a home in Camden once the public art project concludes its run in October.
“We hope to inspire some curiosity for people that drive or walk by,” said Hutchinson. “The mirrored heart is made so that people see a reflection of themselves in our robot.”
The projects, placed near public transportation routes to maximize viewing, were funded through a $1 million Bloomberg Philanthropies grant.
All of the installations will be available for viewing (attendees must wear face masks and socially distance on-site) as of Thursday, with the exception of “Touching Earth.” Organizers said the three “totemic sculptures” made from clay and earth are scheduled to open in early May.
What’s more, “A New View” events will be scheduled throughout the year. The artwork/sites are as follows (a map is available here):
- “Invincible Cat” by Don Kennell and Lisa Adler, Whitman Avenue and West Pershing Street in the Whitman Park neighborhood
- “Bio-Informatic Digester” by Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan, Chestnut Street & Orchard Street in the Gateway neighborhood
- “Turntable” by Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi, SLO Architecture, Cooper’s Poynt Waterfront Park in the North Camden neighborhood
- “Touching Earth” by Athena Steen and Josh Sarantitis, 5th and Erie Street in the North Camden neighborhood
- “Mechan 11: The Collector” by Tyler FuQua Creations, near the State Street Pedestrian Bridge in the North Camden/Cramer Hill neighborhoods
- “The Phoenix Festival” by the Myth Makers, Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein, 1401 Federal Street in the East Camden neighborhood
The location of each of the pieces is purposeful, organizers said. For instance, the “bio-informatic digester” stands where illegal dumping used to be prevalent. Another, the “Phoenix Festival,” was erected where an incinerator once operated.
“I enjoyed working with public works in Camden to make this possible, as a lot of the pieces I used were materials we salvaged from illegal dumping sites and lots in the city. Just to be working again in Camden was a really good feeling,” said Tom Marchetty, of the Factory Workers.
Marchetty, a third-generation factory machine specialist based in Collingswood, said he wants “A New View” to be a catalyst for similar initiatives in the future.
In addition to the city, the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts and local community non-profit, Cooper’s Ferry Partnership helped to launch the project.
Blight has existed in the city for decades. Residents and local groups have long looked for ways to solve issues like the number of abandoned properties in the city, areas being prone to serial litterers and the fact people tend to come from out of town to dump large pieces of trash.
“Illegal dumping has a demoralizing effect on residents, especially when it’s long-lasting like it is in Camden,” said Cooper’s Ferry Partnership CEO, Kris Kolluri. “We need to look at it through the lens of people’s morale, but also the known and unknown health consequences.”
Kolluri is hopeful an array of new efforts will start to shift the city in a better direction.
There’s an illegal dumping reporting tool that went live last year and a new entity that recently launched called the Blight Task Force, which the city said will take a targeted approach at cleaning the streets. Adding more surveillance and harsher penalties for those who dump illegally are being considered.
Earlier in April, the county also contracted Philadelphia-based USA Environmental Management for more than $6.4 million to demolish about 100 abandoned and dilapidated houses in the Centerville, Whitman Park and Liberty Park neighborhoods.
Erik James Montgomery, who like Marchetty is local, said all in all the project has made him more optimistic for the future.
Montgomery was able to get a head start on fellow artists when it came to his project. Last year, he posted portraits of Camden locals — including activists, residents and students — on torn-down buildings above different iterations of the phrase, “Camden is…”
“‘A New View Camden’ is important to me because it has a dual exposure effect,” said Montgomery, a Haddonfield-based photographer. “Camden residents are exposed to highly talented artists throughout the United States right in their hometown via the installations. Additionally, these artists are exposed to the invincible spirit of Camden through the residents and the city that they love.”
See more photos of five of the installations at this link.
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Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com.