Joe Davies

“Where does all the rubbish from Chelsea go?” 

This question was posed during a 3rd year lecture by UAL lecturers Joel Simpson and David Cross. The answer is: we don’t know yet. UAL has not disclosed what happens to the waste, they have only stated that ‘We don’t send any waste to landfill’. All you need to do is take one look at the skip on campus to know that this can’t be true. You will find a colourful and eclectic mix of old materials, strange substances, old tech and sadly, abandoned pieces of art. Most of these materials cannot be recycled!  Looking at the objects in the skip, there’s so much unfulfilled potential. It’s understandable why these things get thrown away, studios and exhibition spaces need to be cleared out and people don’t have the space to keep them. Still, it’s sad to see perfectly good objects and materials being thrown away due to the fast pace of the academic year. This has led me to creating an event called the ‘Rubbish Auction’. To extend the life of the interesting objects found within the skip, I have rescued them and housed them in my studio. There I host a Rubbish Auction, biweekly, where I auction off the objects for free. Anyone who wants a certain object just needs to raise their hand when I introduce it, and it’s theirs. Many objects have been reclaimed and used in students' various projects. We have even had people reunited with objects they owned and didn’t even know were in the skip. The auction’s purpose isn’t just to recycle objects, it’s used as a community gathering. A place where people within the Chelsea College of Arts community can meet. If you are interested in the atmosphere that this kind of event creates, I guess you’ll have to create one yourself!