In 2009 LACMA exhibited ‘Storage Piece’ by Haegue Yang as a part of the ‘Your Bright Future’ show. The piece is a performance/installation piece that reveals itself over the run of the exhibit. At first it’s a pile of milkcrates (Korean crates, not sure if it’s strictly milk) and then during off hours, they unpack the art. Unpacking Storage Piece via the LACMA Blog. You can read more about this piece on Haegue Yang’s site.
I know these aren’t milkcrates. But, Ramon Coronado has created something from the overlooked and transformed an everyday object, giving it a new (and very beautiful) life. All of Ramon’s work has a political edge and his re-appropriation of the “stolen” shopping cart is no different. Check out his site for more details, process and to see the rest of his efforts. Black Market Furniture by Ramon Coronado via Re-Nest
This article from a CBS news source says that southern california dairies are employing detectives and ex-cops to track down and bust milkcrate thieves. The article has some other interesting tid bits, some of which I think are way off. For example they claim that the dairy industry loses 20 million crates a year. That seems way too low! That means only 1 in 15 americans has a new crate each year. It’s gotta be more like 1 in 5, maybe 1 in 8. Anyway, there’s some funny stuff in there. The major thieves are not college kids as you would expect – the real enemy is people stealing crates to sell them in bulk, by weight, to underground recycling for money. The raw plastic that milkcrates are made of is now worth 22 cents a pound, up from 7 cents a pound in 2005. I’m not a fan of destroying milkcrates, so I denounce this kind of activity. Long live the crates – don’t get caught loving them, in so-cal at least.
