The artist exploring New Yorkers' relationship with their trash

At first sight, trash and art are two radically opposed notions. The former represents everything that people seek to conceal and destroy, while the latter embodies what they strive to elevate and celebrate.

But that's not how sTo Len sees things. The multimedia artist recently embarked on an initiative questioning our approach to garbage as part of his residency at the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY).

The "Office of In Visibility" project seeks to highlight the relationship between New Yorkers, their trash, and those who collect it. It features a series of behind-the-scenes videos about garbage collection in New York City. sTo Len was inspired to create them after finding rolls of film under a sink at a sanitation department facility.

"I came into the project with an open mind, and surprisingly discovered that the sanitation department had a print studio and a television studio, with all these obsolete archival materials," the artist told The Art Newspaper. "No one has looked at these things in decades but they are extremely valuable; more than the history of sanitation, they tell the history of New York itself."

One of the videos included in "Office of In Visibility" shows archive footage of the garbage workers' strike that took place in New York in February 1968. At the end of these nine days of protest, nearly 100,000 tons of trash piled up in the streets of the American city.

Aiming for zero waste by 2030

Now, 54 years later, sTo Len's project sheds light on the close, but often overlooked, relationship between the city's residents and the 10,000 DSNY employees who clear up their discards every day.

"Every New Yorker has a role in creating trash, but very few do the work of collecting it -- and outside that group, perhaps even fewer consider the work involved," Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation, said in a statement.

What is clear is that the inhabitants of New York City produce a lot of garbage. The phenomenon is such that the collection and treatment of waste is a real challenge in the city, home to 8.5 million people, and sadly known for having its sidewalks pile up every evening with huge black or transparent plastic bags, but also sometimes furniture, sofas and other unusual objects.

New York currently recycles only one-fifth of all its waste, according to the city's Department of Sanitation. This is a bad habit that authorities are seeking to rectify by 2030. They pledged in 2015 to reduce the city's waste by 90% by that date, and to recycle it locally.

sTo Len is also hoping to encourage New Yorkers to rethink their attitude towards their garbage with his "Office of In Visibility" project. He has come up with a series of challenges, some practical and some fun, that people can undertake on a daily basis.