Get wrecked

By LINDA HERRICK

Abandoned cars are a planet-wide environmental blight, but a group of artists in Hackney, London, has come up with a solution which could carry a lesson for our own city leaders. The artists, who formed a fictional company called RekWear, explain - with tongues in cheeks - on their website that the project started when they observed the plight of a Ford Escort. "Neglected and abandoned, it soon began to disintegrate. As a mark of respect, local residents began to fill it with their own discarded articles."

As a rubbish bin, the Escort was ignored by Hackney Council. RekWear decided to turn the problem of the smelly eyesores into "installation art" by creating a series of odour-proof designer carcovers - helped by council funding. The single-car "installation" was shown on a fire station forecourt, but overnight the car and its cover were towed away by council staff, despite the fact the council had paid for it. As the "curator" put it, "The way to get rid of a car is to make it pretty and then the council will move it."