Sunday, November 3, 2013

November 2, 2013: CANstruction 2013 in New York

Date: November 2, 2013 (though this goes through 11/13)
Event: CANstruction 2013 in New York
Location: Lower Manhattan, New York City
Summary: It's art! Made of food! Then donated to charity!

Tis the season of some of my favorite events. October 31 and the Halloween Parade is quickly followed by a myriad of other New York events that mark the end of the year and the Holidays. And many of those events are charity benefits of one kind or another. This is one of those: it’s called CANstruction

I first discovered CANstruction back in 2008 and have attended the event every year since then. What is CANstruction you ask? Well, their website states, “Canstruction, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that holds annual design and build competitions to construct fantastic, giant sized, structures made entirely out of canned food. In each city after the structures are built and the winners declared the creations go on view to the general public as giant art exhibits. At the close of the competition all of the Cansculptures are dismantled food used in the structures is donated to the local food banks for distribution to community emergency feeding programs.”

It’s art. It’s engineering. It’s free to view. It helps feed the hungry.

It’s win-win-win-win.

Of course I go every year!

This year wasn’t the biggest exhibit they’ve had, but I must say I truly enjoyed the sculptures. Every year so inventive and imaginative and impressive. I love the creativity and appreciate the engineering.

In encourage everyone that can to look it up in their city – this isn’t confined to New York. Go. Enjoy. Take some canned goods to donate. A morning well spent. :) (remember, it's open through Nov 13 in New York!

Below are pictures of my favorites of the 27 sculptures they had.


Title: Bella Notte Per Finire La Fame (aka Lady and the Tramp)
By: Arup
Cans: 2726

HOW CUTE IS THIS?!
Bella1Full

Favorite detail: They are actually eating pasta…on a plate made of tuna…on a table of tomato sauce.
BellaDetailPasta

Title: We CAN Kill Hunger
By: STUDIOS Architecture
Cans: 9300

This is just plan stunning. I mean…it’s anchovies. A skull of anchovies!! And a convincing (and spooky/creep) one at that!
CanKillHunger1FullSide

Favorite detail: Pretty much all of it
CanKillHungerPartial



Title: Hunger Never Sleeps
By: Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Cans: 4260

I’m always a sucker for New York ones. This piece was two sided; one side had a nighttime skyline view of New York, the other side had a day time view of New York.
HungerNever1PartialSideNight

HungerNever1PartialSideDay

Favorite Detail: Dawn and dusk in New York (you know, the times between night and day) is apparently comprised of Goya black beans, organic pumpkin, and Trader Joe’s corn. Who knew? ;)
HungerNeverDetailSide



Title: Despicable Hunger: Minions CanRise!
By: Perkins Eastman / Harlem RBI
Cans: 5254

MINIONS!!!!!!!!
MinionsCan1Full3

MinionsCan1Full2

Favorite Detail: the eyes, man, the eyes! Such incredible creativity! Pistachio packages making the black outline for the eyes and bags of marshmallows making the whites, and an unknown jar of something with a black top making the iris. I want to be a shopper for these teams some year. How fun to go out seeking food based on color and shape alone.
MinionsCanDetailEye2



Title: Once Upon A Can
By: Thorton Tomasetti
Cans: 3870

This pretty much blew me away. A castle. A castle of cans. A CANstle if you will (see what I did there?).
Once1Full

Favorite detail 1: Can we take a moment to appreciate the curved storybook-looking base that also doubles as the green grass around the castle?
OnceDetailBook

Favorite detail 2: And can we take a moment to appreciate the DRAW BRIDGE made of imported herring??
OnceDetailBridge

Favorite detail 3: And can we take a moment to appreciate the windows made of blue anchovies?
OnceDetailWindows

Favorite detail 4: And can we take a moment to appreciate the delicately balanced yellow anchovy flags flying at the top of each turret (not to mention the existence of turrets)?
OnceDetailFlag2



Title: Fight Hunger "Piece"meal
By: American Express
Cans: 5612

Tetris!
Piecemeal1Full

Favorite detail: the colors. Again, how much fun would it be to scour a grocery store(s) for different colored cans?
PiecemealDetailColors



Title: Polarized Against Hunger
By: CACE Consulting Engineers
Cans: 3003

Another one that just completely blew me away. I mean look at this igloo! It’s practically life size! And it comes with a life-sized penguin!
Polarized1Full

Polarized1Full2

Favorite Detail 1: the Penguin had amazing details. The beak and the feet, of course, but the two little milky way eyes. So much respect for that attention to detail (also, so much better tasting than anchovies! ;) )
PolarizedDetailPenguinFace

PolarizedDetailPenguinFeet

Favorite Detail 2: the inside of the igloo. As if the structure itself wasn’t enough. They had to go and build it around a fire. A FIRE!! INSIDE THE IGLOO. Amazing! Love the pasta logs, too. Love the reflection of the fire on the rear wall. Love it all.
PolarizedInterior

PolarizedInterior2



Title: Pour Your Heart Out
By: Lesslie E. Robertson Associates
Cans: 3555

There is currently an exhibit in New York called “Art of the Brick” and its signature piece is a sculpture made of yellow legos in the form of…well in the form below. So, stay with me now, this is a sculpture out of anchovies of a sculpture made out of Legos. *mind blown*
PourYourHeart1Full



Honorable Mentions:

This Lochness monster – very cool!
zLochness

And LOL just the accidental placement of the security guard in front of the Bat-wings. :D
zMiscSecurityGuard



Again, I encourage everyone to go. Seriously.

Until next year…
zOverallMinions

zOverall2





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