BINSPIRATION

at home activity

One person's trash is another person's artistic treasure.

Artists don't just use paint and clay and fancy expensive things from art shops. They use whatever they can find. Bottle caps. Cardboard. Egg cartons. The weird plastic bit that fell off something years ago and has been sitting in the junk drawer ever since.

Watch this Binspiration episode of our show, ‘Art Blast’ below and see how artists turn everyday rubbish into something extraordinary.

Then go do it yourself.

THE CHALLENGE

Don't buy a single thing. Everything you need is already in your house, your recycling bin, or your backyard.

Treasure Hunt:

Make a fun list of materials you will use to make your artworks. A few suggestions:

  • Something from the recycling

  • Something that should have gone in the bin but hasn't yet

  • Something from outside

  • Something from your room

  • Something you got from up high

  • Something you got from down low

  • Something that used to be attached to something else

  • Something natural

  • Something that is not

  • The biggest green thing you can find

Pens, pencils, sticky tape, glue, toilet rolls and googly eyes are all in play.

What to do:

Buy yourself or whatever combos of people you wanna, arrange, glue, sticky tape, staple your objects into a sculpture. It can look like something or it can look like nothing. It can be abstract or ridiculous or both. Importantly, give your artwork a name.

Each artist places their artwork around the house, pillow fort, garden or driveway.

GALLERY OPENING

Invite the world. Or just your grandparents. Insist everyone dresses in their nicest clothes. Walk slowly around the exhibition. Nod thoughtfully at each work. Say things like "fascinating" and "yes, I see what they were going for" and "bold choice with the egg carton."

Here are some fun ideas to keep the fun going.

GALLERY TALKS

Each artist stands next to their work and explains it to the group as if they are a very important and serious artist. What is it called? What does it mean? Why did you choose that particular toilet roll? Take questions from the audience. Answer them with complete confidence even if you have no idea what you're talking about. 

OR SWAP

Each person gets handed someone else's sculpture. No discussion about what the original maker intended. Each person explains the sculpture they're holding as if they made it. Commit to your explanation. The original maker stays quiet and listens. Then swap back and the original maker reveals what it was actually supposed to be.

The gap between what someone made and what someone else thought they made is where the funny lives.

ALIEN ARTIFACT

Pick up your sculpture. It is no longer a sculpture. It is an ancient alien artifact discovered in your backyard. Where is it from? What planet? What does it do? Is it dangerous? Present your findings to the group in your most serious scientist voice.

THE FINAL WORK

Now combine every sculpture into one giant masterpiece. Everyone adds their work to a central structure. Keep building until it falls over, fills the room, or becomes genuinely alarming. Give the final work a name. Photograph it. It will never exist again.