ABOUT

In 2020 we lived through an unprecedented global pandemic that shook the world to its core. Our universe’s new normal included restrictions such as sheltering in place and limiting social interactions. The communal slow-down that resulted shifted our focus away from all of life’s minutiae and helped give rise to a powerful Black Lives Matter movement centered on the continued killings of innocent Black lives. In the summer of 2020 we finally left our homes to fight for racial justice while retailers, restaurants and luxury brands boarded up their windows. As businesses protected their storefronts with plywood due to the pandemic and the protests, WORTHLESSSTUDIOS saw an opportunity to protect the plywood itself.

During these peak protest months across New York City, plywood prices skyrocketed to above $90 for one 4’ x 8’ AC plywood board and supply was rapidly depleted citywide. In response, WORTHLESSSTUDIOS launched the Plywood Protection Project, a mission-driven initiative to collect the wood and redistribute it to artists, extending and repurposing the life of this material. WORTHLESSSTUDIOS collected over 200 boards of plywood and initiated an open call for artists, with the intention of selecting five local makers to participate in a unifying public art project across all five boroughs of New York.

WORTHLESSSTUDIOS will provide:

• Studio space

• Tools

• Fabrication and Installation Assistance

• $2000 artist stipend

• $500 material budget

WORTHLESSSTUDIOS will need:

• Your development of a sculptural public art piece