Michael Landy recently appeared on the Culture show advertising his new 'Art Bin' piece, which is taking place in London. He is inviting artists to recognise their own 'artistic failures' and encouraging them to dispose of them. Famous artists like Damien Hirst and Cornelia Parker have submitted works, which causes me to wonder how much the contents would be worth in total (if they hadn't been smashed up) when the bin is full and how many fantastic pieces have been destroyed for the sake of Landy's ambitious idea to be fulfilled. However, he argues that it is the artists' own responsibility to recognise failure and says that 'nothing is too good' to be disposed of.
On the other hand, anyone is welcome to submit their work and submitting their work to the bin could be the first chance for many upcoming artists to get involved and have their work 'displayed' within a notable gallery. Landy describes it as 'using failure as a route to success'. If anyone is interested, you can apply here to submit your work.
The thing that irritates me the most about this piece is that Landy has labelled himself 'bin monitor' and decides what does and does not enter the bin. Surely this defeats the idea of each artist recognising their own failures? How badly do you have to have failed to be rejected from Landy's precious bin?
I have very mixed views on this piece and on Landy's more recent pieces in general, I would love to hear other peoples views on this. Maybe he should just go back to drawing with tippex?
