SYDNEY.- Penrith is hosting a new contemporary art project which raises questions about society’s relationship to the production and consumption of waste. Taking its name from Penrith’s postcode, Activate 2750 presents eight days of sculptures, processions and performances created out of commercial and industrial waste.

Artist Ash Keating collaborated with waste management company SITA for the project to create a series of artworks which raise awareness about waste and recycling.

Keating has created a large-scale installation on the front lawn of Penrith’s Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre using three truckloads of SITA’s commercial and industrial waste materials. Keating is manipulating the material into a sculptural installation which will be on view during the day and illuminated by night until the project concludes on Friday 6 March 2009.

Pieces of the recyclable material will also be fashioned into wearable costumes to be worn by local performing artists to create moving ‘waste creatures’. These wearable sculptures will be paraded in three processions throughout Penrith City Centre and train station, Westfield Plaza and Mulgoa Road Superstore District in the week commencing Tuesday 3 March 2009.

Activate 2750 will culminate in a final performance on Friday 6 March from 7pm until 8.30pm outside the Joan Sutherland Centre for Performing Arts. The fantastical mixed media finale involves sculptural installations, video, performances, lighting effects and music.

Keating describes the project as aiming to raise community awareness about waste and recycling, explaining: “My art practice is interested in natural environmental issues and particularly the effects that globalisation has on the natural world.”

During the final performance all the waste materials recycled in the event will be placed into large bulk bins, ready for delivery to the Elizabeth Drive Landfill. SITA trucks will then collect the bins which will be then returned to landfill, raising further questions about the ongoing cycle of the creation and disposal of human and industry waste.

Penrith City Mayor Jim Aitken OAM said: “Penrith City Council is pleased to be a part of the C3West project, which significantly boosts Western Sydney’s reputation as a vibrant and growing cultural hub.

“Council sees supporting cultural initiatives such as the C3West project as an important part of Penrith’s role as a Regional City.”

Ash Keating (b. 1980) is a Melbourne based visual artist who predominantly integrates ecological issues into a hybrid art practice. Keating is a recipient of a 2008 Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces Studio Residency and a 2008 Asialink Visual Arts Residency. Keating is a recipient of a 2008 Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces Studio Residency and a 2008 Asialink Visual Arts Residency. Past projects include: 2020?, Next Wave, Melbourne (2008); Publicity, Artspace, Sydney and; and CASCA, Adelaide (2007) Parched, Melbourne (2007); Pascua Lama, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile (2006).