Explore A Museum Of Waste In Leadenhall Market

M@
By M@ Last edited 111 months ago
Explore A Museum Of Waste In Leadenhall Market
If anyone in the City would put their mobile away for 30 seconds, there's a great exhibition happening right behind them.
If anyone in the City would put their mobile away for 30 seconds, there's a great exhibition happening right behind them.
A load of old VHS videos, all defaced to celebrate Catford, for some reason.
A load of old VHS videos, all defaced to celebrate Catford, for some reason.
Discarded console controls from different eras.
Discarded console controls from different eras.
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The My Pod. Can you work out which apps the various items represent?
The My Pod. Can you work out which apps the various items represent?
Tight balls, and a dress made from ring-pulls and carrier bags.
Tight balls, and a dress made from ring-pulls and carrier bags.

An old, abandoned HMV store in Leadenhall Market has found a new lease of life. The Waste Agency is an exhibition that examines our culture of consumerism and all the waste it produces.

The pieces are many and varied. In one corner, you'll find a heap of old Atari consoles, some of them playable. The window display includes a oversized coin, somehow fashioned from household dust. The 'My Pod' is a wooden frame on wheels, decorated with seemingly random objects. On closer inspection, they turn out to be real-world equivalents of common iPhone apps: an atlas, a torch, an angry bird.

The centrepiece is an orrery of stripy balls. These colourful spheres are built from hundreds of pairs of discarded tights. Closely wound, the diaphanous leggings accrete into something sturdy enough to bruise a hippo. They're accompanied by a dress made from rubbish. With warp and weft spun from carrier bags, and shiny ring-pull epaulettes accentuating the shoulders, this is a garment that will never decompose.

The Waste Agency will be hanging around until at least 21 December. Just walk in any time, seven days a week, and speak to the friendly curators. A series of talks and performances are also lined up, including Ground Control author Anna Minton (11 December) and Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees on sustainable London (15 December).

The Waste Agency, a project by Platform 7, is at 1 Whittington Avenue, on the north side of Leadenhall Market. Entrance is free.

Last Updated 08 December 2014