If we all cleared the clutter from our lives, could this have an impact on the environment? Emily wants people to reflect on the objects in their lives and take part in assembling a strange new shop in Queensgate as part of the Planet B festival.
Do you have objects at home that you look at and think ‘I should really take that to the charity shop’? Items once loved but that now are collecting dust? If we needed less clutter in our lives, could this have an impact on the environment?
Emily is looking for people to donate small objects of any kind: household items, personal objects, complete or broken. They could be toys, ornaments, stationary, clothing, decorative or functional. Her only restrictions are that they are no larger than 18cm x 20cm x 7cm and no heavier than 1 kg (a bag of flour).
You can donate an item by dropping it in to Metal, Chauffeurs Cottage, 1 St Peters Road (behind the Town Hall) or to the PECT stall at the International Friendship Festival in Cathedral Square on 29th July. If you are part of a larger group whereby each member wishes to donate an item then please call 01733 893077 to discuss possible collection.
All the items collected will contribute to Emily’s Clutter Bank shop, open in the old Tie Rack shop in Queensgate from 12noon-5pm on 4th-7th August. Clutter Bank will be filled with small rejected objects. We are inviting local people to drop by and take our gigantic, friendly and non-scientific questionnaire to confront the truth of our clutter. Add your thoughts, feelings and stories and have a cup of tea!
“We all have a relationship with objects and an understanding of curating, valuing, arranging, systemizing, rejecting, articulating and reasoning why certain objects are important to us”, says Emily Tracy. “It is these very familiar activities which this project will re-frame within issues around climate change.”
Clutter Bank is just one of the artists commissions that feature as part of Planet B, a two-week programme of arts projects, film screenings, exhibitions, performances, workshops, discussions, debates and dinners all exploring sustainability and the environment. The programme runs from 29th July to 12th August, at venues across Peterborough.
The programme has been arranged by the environmental charity PECT, working alongside arts organisation Metal and The Green Backyard, and with funding from Arts Council England.
For more details about Planet B, visit www.pect.org.uk/PlanetB and see the Facebook page @PlanetBPeterB or call 01733 568408.