Recycled PVC Calls for Ewe-Nique Exhibit

FRANKFURT, Germany, Jan. 7, 2009 (VNS) – In another ringing endorsement for recycling products that have been put out to pasture, Jean-Luc Cornec's exhibit "TribuT" has woven telephone bodies, receivers, and vinyl telephone cords into a flock of sheep.  

The exhibit has been corralled at the entrance to the Frankfurt Museum of Communications, also the home to Mesopotamian clay tablets, antique mailboxes, undersea communications cable, vintage postage stamps and postcards, and other communications-related exhibits.  

TribuT features a dozen sheep, with phone receivers and cradles recreating their heads, and phone receivers that have been melted and bent to replicate the lower legs and hooves of the sheep.  The most striking image is the miles of curled vinyl telephone cords wrapped around the figures to resemble their fleece coats.   

The exhibit shows beige-colored sheep posed as they may be on a typical farm - milling together, heads bent to graze, and even the proverbial "black sheep," on its own with head bowed dejectedly.  

The exhibit's title, "TribuT," has a double meaning, referencing a sacrifice or contribution in German, and a clan, tribe, or flock in French.   

And while the sheep don't bleat, they do ring in staggered intervals.   

While the exhibit has been a great source of amusement to museum goers who have viewed the sheep in droves, "TribuT" has also generated conversation about the desire to recycle vinyl and other materials in innovative ways.  Doug Gunzelmann, contributing editor for greenupgrader.com, observed, "Work like the Telephone Sheep force us to see new uses and value to otherwise expired products."   

He continued, "Artists and designers will play an immensely important role in our world as we move forward towards more sustainable ideology."  

When greeted with such lofty praise, the sheep barely baa-ted an eye, unlikely to have the wool, or vinyl, pulled over their eyes.  

For more information, go to greenupgrader.com.  

The Vinyl Institute represents the leading manufacturers involved in the production of PVC vinyl in the United States, and promotes the value of PVC and vinyl products to society.   

For more information, contact:
Jeffrey B. Palmer
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Vinyl Institute
(703) 741-5669
jeff_palmer@plastics.org   

Also go to: www.vinylindesign.com and www.vinylinfo.org.