Trashy by Mizou


Project Trashy is an NGO project about making electronic trash into art.


The project was first founded by Mizou when the artist worked as a designer for Uber as an initial employee in San Francisco where she was strongly inspired by the local geeky vibes. She founded her own AI startup with her friend from Google AI after she left Uber. Later,Mizou put her full time into NGO.

Electronic trash is quite different from
other kinds of waste. Most of the E-waste was decomposed and put into production again - the Downcycle way, but the process took quite an amount of energy according to physics law. 

What she is doing is the Upcycle way: the wastes she collected were mostly personal belongings people still kept for the memories inside them. Some e-waste still worked well but they were bypassed by the rapid pace of technology waves. She wants to revoke the unspoken and the forgotten part of the electronic trash through her work and show special solicitude for the environmental protection.

The project is open-sourced: most of the work are co-created by people in an art workshop curated and hosted by Mizou. Students, programmers, rocket engineers, people who work in the electronic industry and etc. They brought their own unique e-waste and make them into art without boundaries set by gurus.

Mizou would rather see herself as a concept artist who can inspire people to create and think.



Project Trashy 是把电子垃圾变成艺术品的非盈利艺术项目,由艺术家米走创建。

米走在Uber工作时,被硅谷浓烈的技术气氛所感染,于是一步一步开始了自己的创作。之后,米走和Google AI的朋友一起成立了自己的 AI公司,之后,米走开始全职投入 NGO 的项目。

电子垃圾和其他类型的垃圾不同,大多电子垃圾都被分解然后重新投入生产 - 传统的向下循环的方法,而这个过程会产生大量的金属污染、塑料污染进入到整个生态循环系统里。而高速的科技消费品发展正加速着这样局面。

米走想要用向上循环的方式去改变这一现状。

她想要的则是保持电子垃圾本身的样子,发觉其除了产品本身之外的故事和意味。她所收集的电子垃圾大多是人们还保存着的产品,有时是主人曾经包含的宝贵回忆,有的产品本身还可以正常使用,只是被时代抛弃了而已。她想要的,就是用人人可以创造的艺术的方式去挖掘这其中的意味和背后的环境污染问题。


Trashy是一个开源的艺术项目。大部分的作品都由各种身份的素人在米走主持和指导的艺术工作坊中完成。他们有程序员、学生、火箭工程师、在电厂工作的男孩女孩等等。他们来带自己独一无二的电子垃圾,并把它们做出打破类型限制的艺术作品。

米走说,比起其他独立完成作品的艺术家,她更愿意成为激发大家去创造的指挥家,或者说,一个激发人们去思考和创作的杠杆。

星星之火,可以燎原。
C