Camden’s large-scale outdoor art offers ‘A New View’ of the city

The artwork is specifically designed to raise awareness about unlawful dumping of bulk waste.

“Turntable” by SLO Architecture at Cooper’s Poynt Waterfront Park, is made from surgical face masks and other recycled and discarded plastic, and runs off of wind power. It's one of six large-scale outdoor public art projects to be unveiled on Earth Day that's meant to draw attention to the issue of illegal dumping.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Artists are setting up and preparing their large-scale outdoor public art projects in Camden to be unveiled on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22.

The creations of “A New View—Camden” were specifically designed to raise awareness about unlawful dumping of bulk waste, which costs taxpayers over $4 million annually.

The exhibition features six one-of-a-kind and family-friendly installations - and two projects by local artists - that were funded by a $1 million Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge grant. A map of all six sites can be found at www.anewviewcamden.com/sites.

Zach Greer, who works with artists Don Kennell and Lisa Adler, helps as "Invincible Cat" is lifted by a forklift as it's installed in the Parkside and Whitman Park neighborhoods.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Designers work on preparing the Bio-Informatic Digester by Terreform ONE in the Gateway neighborhood. It will contain tens of thousands of mealworms that eat styrofoam packaging from e-waste.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Detail on a Pod Park by Tom Marchetty with the Factory Workers, on the Digester site. A local woodworker and third-generation factory machinery specialist, Marchetty placed the unique seating areas at each of the installations.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Mechan 11: The Collector, by Tyler FuQua Creations, near the State Street Pedestrian Bridge on the Cooper River connects the North Camden and Cramer Hill neighborhoods.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Photos of Camden residents by fine art photographer Erik James Montgomery in North Camden. His photo series, “Camden Is Bright Not Blight,” launched last fall, with his large-scale portraits on vacant buildings.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The Myth Makers' "The Phoenix Festival" featuring two 22-foot-tall bamboo sculptures decorated with recycled objects in East Camden stand behind a "Book Ark" from the Camden County Pop Up Library.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The outer surface of the dome is made from empty soda bottles, but since the pandemic the designers switched to another often discarded item for the inner layer: disposable surgical face masks.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
“Turntable” at Coopers Poynt Waterfront Park is the former location of Riverfront State Prison, torn down in 2009 after years of public advocacy for its dissolution. It was not a dumping site, but the location is symbolic of Camden as a dumping ground for undesirable facilities,TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The bag carried on the back of Mechan 11, a steel creature that is picking up giant pieces of litter. It is referred to as “The Collector” by its fellow robots.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Alex Reyes (left) and Tashlee Bolden, both six years-old, ride bikes by their grandmother's apartment near "Mechan 11: The Collector."TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
"Invincible Cat" by Don Kennell and Lisa Adler of DKLA Design is made from repurposed car hoods, a material that is frequently dumped in vacant lots.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Donuts for the workers rest on a claw.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Cousins Carlos Cordero, 9, and Alex Velazquez (behind an ear), 13, play on the newly-installed "Invincible Cat."TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Neighborhood residents brought discarded tires to the site to be used as a border before Terreform ONE began preparing their project. The block belonged to a tire company from the mid-1960s to 1999 when it was abandoned. A 12-alarm fire in 2011 destroyed the buildings, along with some adjacent homes.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Mealworms eat Styrofoam "Bio-Informatic Digester." A petroleum-based product, Styrofoam is thought to be non-biodegradable. But mealworms can reduce it into a perfectly safe compostable mulch for gardening.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The River Line light rail train passes a "Pod Park" creation of Tom Marchetty, with The Factory Workers, in East Camden. He uses urban timber, repurposed steel, salvaged parts, and i-beams to create the functional freestanding spaces that can be dropped where people gather. This is at "The Phoenix Festival" site, created by Myth Makers artists Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Mechan 11, like all the installations, is placed on an area that was a former illegal dumping site, and specifically designed to raise awareness about unlawful dumping of bulk waste, which costs taxpayers over $4 million annually.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Detail on a bench at "The Phoenix Festival" site in East Camden. The site, near the Federal Street Bridge, once housed a municipal incinerator with a tall brick smokestack that was removed in 2017.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The view inside, looking up toward the oculus at the center of "Turntable."TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Mealworms eat Styrofoam "Bio-Informatic Digester." A petroleum-based product, Styrofoam is thought to be non-biodegradable. But mealworms can reduce it into a perfectly safe compostable mulch for gardening.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
SLO Architecture's "Turntable" is one of six large-scale outdoor public art projects meant to draw attention to the issue of illegal dumping.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer