DS Smith delivers 20 tonnes of newspaper to The Griffin Gallery in London

Thousands of newspapers have taken a slight detour on their way to be recycled, thanks to a creative partnership between DS Smith, The Griffin Gallery and Turner Prize-nominated artist, David Mach.

Forming his latest installation Incoming, David Mach has used the paper to create a gigantic wave cascading through the walls of the Griffin Gallery in London, engulfing the artist’s own Jeep in its wake. The exhibition runs until 11 July 2017, after which time the newspapers will be recycled at DS Smith’s West London facility.

Mach’s use of newspaper is truly characteristic of his artistic style. Previously, he has created similar installations at galleries including Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art; the Contemporary Arts Centrer, Cincinnati; Ujazdwski Castle centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; and the Metronom Gallery, Barcelona. Incoming is his first paper-based installation since 2002’s Bangers N Mash, and was completed in-situ in Griffin Gallery in May 2017, with a live webcam documenting real-time progress.

Speaking of his initial inspiration in turning to flowing assemblages of mass-produced objects to create works of art, Mach has said, “Everybody at this time was making permanent works. Sculpture that was a solid form, welded together. It was formed out of wood or plastics, materials that could be put together permanently in some way and certainly ending up as some kind of object. I didn’t want to make objects. I wanted to make something that would certainly appear solid but that couldn't be lifted up and carried away like an object.” 

In return for the newspapers, the gallery has made a donation to Keep Britain Tidy, a partner charity of DS Smith. Keep Britain Tidy and DS Smith have worked together for three years, supporting the Green Flag Awards for parks. Earlier this year, the partnership launched the Green Space Business Awards – awarded to business locations that support their local green spaces. Two of DS Smith’s own sites won the inaugural awards.

Through Keep Britain Tidy, the gallery’s donation will support the efforts of one such award-winning site. Employees of the DS Smith Recycling facility in Bolton won the Green Space Business Award for their work with the Friends of Longsight Park, a not-for-profit project aims to improve the park’s appearance for the local community. The donation will be used to fund litter picking and other grounds-keeping activities.

Tim Price, Marketing Director at DS Smith Recycling, added:

Innovation is a core part of our business, and we are always working to raise awareness of the importance of recycling. David’s use of newspaper is an impressive way of demonstrating the large quantities of paper that are successfully recycled in the UK every year.