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This Friday, April 24, artist Willie Cole will lead a live public installation at Flatiron Public Plaza at Broadway and 23rd Street in Manhattan, turning 2,500 donated single-use bottles into a large-scale sculpture with help from anyone willing to pitch in. The project, created in partnership with Rothy’s, asks New Yorkers to bring their own plastic bottles, add them to the piece and, in exchange, walk away with a reusable one.
Americans throw away roughly 60 million plastic bottles every day (about 700 per second!) meaning the entire installation’s materials represent less than four seconds of national waste. That means what takes a full day to build in the plaza is almost instantly discarded in real life.
Cole, whose pieces live in the permanent collections of institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney, is known for turning everyday objects, like irons, shoes and bottles, into sculptures that make viewers reconsider what gets thrown away and why. Here, that idea moves out of the gallery and into the street as Cole relies on the public to supply his materials in real time. By the end of the day, the finished piece will reflect both the artist’s vision and the collective footprint of those who stopped by.
The installation also ties back to Rothy’s core business: the brand has repurposed more than 225 million plastic bottles into its products, making recycled materials its core rather than an afterthought. On site, a hydration station will refill bottles throughout the day, reinforcing the not-so-subtle message to stop buying new ones in the first place.
The installation runs from 9 am to 5pm and is free to attend, just bring a bottle and be ready to build something out of it.