Reduce Reuse Recycle Reincarnate
The Buddha at the trash fence is an interactive community art installation to be featured at Burning Man and beyond. It will be made out of completely recycled materials and repurposed parts, and powered by alternative energy sources.
The intention of the Trash Buddha is to raise awareness and inspire a communal effort for environmental sustainability. We’ll showcase what lessons can be learned from the teachings of Buddha and how we can implement them to make a difference.
The 5-meter sculpture of the seated Buddha will be constructed with 1,500 recycled plastic bottles to represent the 1,500 plastic bottles thrown away every second of every day around the world. The bottles will be woven into a translucent mesh and formed around an exoskeleton made from repurposed, or “reincarnated”, steel.
Inside the Buddha will be 7 LED spot lights, colored and aligned to the 7 chakra points. Like our steel, these too are reincarnated from our previous art installation. To promote the use of alternative energy the lighting of the project will run on solar batteries but the inner chakras will be powered by you! Facing the Buddha is a stationary upcycled bicycle with an array of recycled pipes behind it.
Participants can interact with the Buddha by peddling the bike. As you pedal, the inner chakras of the Buddha will light up one by one and the metal pipes will chime in unison tuned to the frequency of its corresponding chakra. You can pedal hard and fast to light up all the chakras or slowly over time. The path to enlightenment is up to you.
Buddhists believe in the noble eightfold path. These are 8 simple rules one must follow to put an end to all suffering. Followers of the trash Buddha believe that the same eight concepts can be used to put an end to global warming
The Buddha's Noble 8 Fold Path
Right
Understanding
Thought
Speech
Action
Livelihood
Effort
Mindfulness
Concentration
Community art by definition is for the community and should give back to the community. By working with local recycling initiatives to source our material, we hope to expand and support their efforts. To reduce our carbon footprint the project will pay it forward to partnered environmental organizations.
With your help we can plant a seed of education and interest that can grow into a branching tree of sustainable living.
In our effort to be zero waste, Our team of artists are creating unique handcrafted upcycled gifts in appreciation of your donations, as well as a limited series of NFTs hosted on the eco-friendly Polygon server.
For every donation, no matter how small, we will plant a tree in your name with treesfortrees.org and provide you with an electronic certificate in your name with the coordinates of where your tree was planted.
If you can’t make a donation, don’t worry. There are other ways to help. We will be setting up recycling points in Reno, LA, and the Bay area where you can donate recycled plastic bottles for the projects.or every 50 recycle bottles we receive, we will plant another tree. The Buddha at the trash cans emphasizes education and communication so help spread the word by sharing this project and supporting your community recycling programs.
Right Understanding for me is the realization that our planet and its ecosystem is in the midst of an environmental crisis. We need to acknowledge that global warming is real. Only when we, as a community, are able to accept the reality of our situation, will we be able to understand that with the Right Action, Effort and Mindfulness, we can still make a difference.
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New website coming soon!
thetrashbuddha@gmail.com