sa[TIRE]
Omaha, Nebraska, 2011

Stored Potential 2: Transportation
A competition by Emerging Terrain for a large-scale installation re-purposing a prominent grain elevator no longer used for its original purpose with 20' x 80' banners about Transportation to be installed on the exterior of the elevator's silos.

Think of something that most people utilize on an everyday basis….do tires come to mind?  Tires are crucial to the transportation of goods, services, and people, yet their useful lifespan is often quite short.  According to the EPA, at the end of 2003, the U.S. alone generated approximately 290 million scrap tires.

Tires, which are composed almost entirely of synthetic materials, are a burden on the environment.  Some take hundreds of years or more to decompose while others will last forever.  The burning of tires creates toxic air pollution as well as the potential for groundwater contamination due to the melted residue runoff.  This toxic contamination poses a major threat to humans and the world in which we live.  According to Dr. Neil Carman, whose work entails years of technical experience in synthetic rubber plants making rubber tires, “Burning of scrap tires…creates an array of toxic byproducts such as dioxins, furans, PAHs, PCBs.., hexavalent chromium, and cadmium. These chemicals are recognized by health officials as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity.”

sa[TIRE] is intended to initiate conversation about the subject.  The pattern of the tire tread has anorganic, plant-like appearance, which is ironic considering the environmental impacts that tires have on the earth.  sa[TIRE] also serves as a public awareness to practice environmentally friendly discarding techniques. Tire recycling efforts are commonplace, but tires continue to end up in landfills and are still being burned by the millions.

Selected as a Runner-Up, Top 16