by jkruger

– Jenny Drumgool is Philly’s own version of Don Quixote, maybe with a dash of Andy Warhol. But instead of tilting at windmills, the local artist throws spontaneous parties for the city’s trash collectors—balloons and all—both as a form of protest and a celebration of local blue collar might.

The East Kensington artist has been throwing the spontaneous street parties since last year. Her YouTube videos are pretty much the definition of Internet awesomeness (and disturbance), but her real motivation is to make a very serious point in a very silly way.

In a press release distributed in City Council chambers yesterday, Drumgool explains, “Philadelphia’s sanitation workers have been working without a contract or a raise since 2009. Meanwhile, Philadelphia has faced the second snowiest winter on record as sanitation crews have been performing double duty – both trash collection and snow removal.”

So, to continue to raise awareness of Local 427’s apparent supreme patience with the Nutter administration, Drumgool and her co-artists at Little Berlin, “an artist-run collective and gallery space located in North Philadelphia,” located at 2430 Coral street, host Philly’s trash collectors tomorrow, Saturday March 29, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, for a party, which will up the surrealist ante tomorrow with a tomato cannon and a bicycle-powered popcorn maker. (Both exactly what they sound like.)

You don’t need to be a sanitation worker to attend. You don’t even need to be an artist. You just need to like art, enjoy the company of other human beings, and want to have a good time in Kensington.

“This union has saved the city so much with the hard work that we do that it’s about time we get compensated for it,” says sanitation workers’ union Local 427 President Charles Carrington, who actually attended a Happy Trash Day last year. “We haven’t received a raise in five years. We just want our fair share.”

The celebration is also the closing night celebration of Little Berlin’s current exhibit, “The Place of Dead Roads,” described on its website as “an exhibition in which individual artists explore their vision by creating an environment of homespun pizzazz, performance, and serendipity.” Along with Drumgool, works of artists Tim Eads and Beth Heinly are part of the presentation.

“Sanitation workers are invited to ‘take over’ the show’s interactive pieces,” the artists say in a press release.

Of course, Drumgool plans to show her video, “How-To Happy Trash Day,” to partygoers. There will also be an “in-progress life-sized paper machete sanitation worker. Tim Eads will show a massive bike-powered popcorn (and fresh butter!) maker.”

Basically, it sounds like one hell of a good time celebrating art and workers. Even if you have plans tomorrow, how can you really pass up something like this?

Source: http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/phillynow/2014/03/28/artists-trash-day-party-little-berlin/