in·ter·sti·tial ˌin(t)ərˈstiSHəl/

adjective

of, forming, or occupying interstices. "the interstitial space"

ECOLOGY (of minute animals) living in the spaces between individual sand grains in the soil or aquatic sediments. "the interstitial fauna of marine sands"

So, I keep returning to this building. I like that it is the Memphis Cycle. I am thinking about the ecosystem, the human ecosystem.

Around the back of the building I see this small biome, this gyre of outcast humanity.

I go closer in. I step over a low wall.

There are layers of discarded possesions. Jackets, shirts, pants, underwear, shampoo, a butter knife, bottles, an empty passion fruit juice carton, spray paint cans, lighters, cigarette packs, a vacuum hose, a swimming pool filter, gym shoes, socks, detergent bottles. I lifted up some clothing and there were sow bugs and worms underneath layered under along with condom wrappers, a tooth paste tube, a magazine, plastic bags, broken glass, cans, and reflectors, lots of reflectors. I wondered who collected reflectors and then I found some pedals and a seat and an inner tube and then some pedals in packaging and then more reflectors and I remembered that this had been a bicycle supply store.

This layering of material and the prospect of using the materials, the idea of living in this dump as people have done for years reminded me of Vik Muniz' film Garbagetown and also of an Anthropology Professor at the University of Iowa who taught me the word "interstitial." He showed us a film of a man at a garbage dump in Senegal who used a wooden hammer and a screw-driver to perforate sections of an aluminium airplane wing which he then heated and hammered into the form of a pot. This is how he made his living, making airplane pots. Back here clothes are thrown away when they are dirty because there is no washing machine. Back here bottles are urinals, magazines are pillows. This is what is behind the Memphis Cycle.

I think also of Francis Alys piece "The Seven Lives of Garbage."

"It’s said that garbage is filtered seven times in Mexico before it’s ultimately declared to be garbage. Alys decided to test these mechanisms and threw seven identical sculptures into the garbage in seven different locations around the city. He’s been combing the flea markets in search of the small figures for years, and has already found two of them."

http://www.davidzwirner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FA-DB-Artmag-Wittneven-04-09-19.pdf