The artist sold cigarette butts and other junk to Taylor Swift fans: made more than a thousand dollars

One of the world’s biggest artists celebrated his wedding last Friday, July 3, at the Madison Square Garden arena in New York. Swift and the star American football player Travis Kelcen the wedding remained hidden inside the arena from prying eyes and photographers.

New York based artist Justin Gignac tells AFP that he collected the garbage near the arena on the day of the celebration. Gignac packed the trash into individual, small plastic boxes and put them aside for sale.

The trash includes, among other things, cigarette butts, bottle caps, whistles and police tape. The most special pieces of trash are probably a lone Airpod earpiece and an ovulation test kit.

So far, Gignac has sold about 50 trash cans and made $1,250. The limited edition sold out within a day.

“Many of Swift’s fans want at least some memory of the wedding,” Gignac thinks to AFP.

Gignac shared a video of his work and trash cans on Instagram.

Artist says on his website that he started selling trash already in 2001, when his colleague had questioned the importance of packaging design.

Gignac wanted to prove what value packaging design can have. He wanted to invent something that no one would ever buy and package it as an attractive product.

The trashy streets of New York provided the perfect idea.

To date, Gignac has sold more than 1,700 litter boxes. In addition to Swift and Kelce’s wedding day, Gignac has had several other themes in his trashy plastic boxes, such as the Pride parade held in June.

“I’m trying to capture culturally significant moments in New York, and this (Swift and Kelce’s wedding) seemed like a big moment. I’m trying to capture that moment in a small time capsule,” he describes to AFP.