‘Surreal’ art installation criticised for wasting food by dumping 29 tonnes of carrots

Students are using the produce to bake and sell carrot cake to raise money for local food banks

(PA)

Twenty-nine tonnes of carrots have been dumped from a truck onto a London university campus as part of an art piece.

The work, titled Grounding by Spanish-Welsh artist Rafael Perez Evans, has received criticism from students at Goldsmiths university – where the carrots were dumped – who believe it is wasting food.

Since its installation on Tuesday (29 September), many students were seen climbing the pile of carrots to take photos and bring home carrots to eat themselves.

An Instagram account titled “Goldsmith Carrots” has been created in protest of the artwork. “This account is run by four very angry Goldsmith art students,” reads the caption to one of its posts.

Another post states: “According to the artist these carrots are supposedly ‘surplus’ and will be fed to ‘animals.’ […] There is no proof these claims are true! We heard from a member of the department that the artist stated this was the case just to get approval from the college.”

According to the artist’s website, the vegetables featured in the piece are “carrots that the food industry in the UK deems not worthy of shelves”. 

Perez Evans claims the “full 29 tonnes of vegetables will be collected after the exhibition and sent to feed animals”.

In protest of the installation, the students running the Instagram account are baking carrot cake using “carrots taken from this incredibly wasteful art piece” and donating the money to local food banks.

They explained: “Lewisham is one of the poorest boroughs in London and this mass dumping of carrots at Goldsmiths is beyond insensitive, it’s a massive slap in the face.”

Grounding is intended to provoke a discussion about the discord between rural and city life in the UK, according to the artist’s website.