The Second Lives exhibit presented a collection of unique artworks revolving around the theme of “remixing the ordinary.” Many different objects were being reused and restructured by various artists in creating new yet traditional items that we encounter daily. Ordinary little things that we use and see everyday are being modified into other forms, structures, or even different styles of existence. Through the transformation from various artists’ creativity, many objects such as spoons, tags, and plastic were given a second chance to be seen taking a different form. A form that is so unexpected of them that it was hard to believe they actually have another use or purpose to be kept and saved from being thrown away. The underlying meaning of everything coming together defines the relationship between the part and the whole. Part is a fraction or the foundation that by combining and putting together can support, build, and complete the whole.

Four unusual pieces that stood out to me over the whole exhibit were spoon pyramid, skylines, stainless steel quarter lounge, and chopsticks. Jill Townsley used two items that we see almost everywhere, plastic spoons and rubber bands to build a 3D pyramid. Each spoon is tied and connected with one another through rubber bands, and once those rubber bands lost their elasticity, the whole piece began to self destruct. In this case, both rubber bands and plastic spoons acted as crucial parts that held the entire structure from falling apart.

Another interesting piece I found in the exhibit was the skyline designed by El Anatsui. He used a very simple idea in creating this artwork. Basically, he bended and flattened metal caps from aluminum liquor bottles into tiny squares. Those squares were then aligned and connected with one another by wires, which Anatsui called “tapestries”. Those tapestries served as a link between all the parts of this piece. The interesting fact about this art was that every bottle cap stood as an important part of the whole. There were no missing parts in between the squares and together they created an image with smooth patterns and beautiful curves that looked like the way they would be in a soft quilt.

The third piece was Chopsticks which was a piece by WOK Media, Julie Mathias, and Wdfgang Kaeppner. They collected disposable wooden chopsticks and constructed a colorful wooden chair by stacking those chopsticks randomly. The combined wooden materials made a strong solid structure that could even hold a person’s weight. Last but not least, the piece by Johnny Swing which was also a chair except that now it was crafted out of coins. For this Quarter Lounge, Swing reused and glued countless coins together. And all those quarters no longer acted only as currency but became into furniture with a whole new function to it. Both of these pieces were built with parts supporting the whole. With just one stick or quarter missing, the piece would never be completed.

The collection from this exhibit successfully presented the idea of making the ordinary extraordinary. Many common objects found to be disposed on a regular basis were recollected and reused into new innovative pieces of art. With all the different parts designed specifically to fit well with one another, a new generation of mixture of art was created. Tying back to a popular interest today of going green and reusing things; we can see even the smallest thing in our lives can be reborn again and reused as parts to create whole.