Art Can Help People

An international art exhibit and competition, known as Canstruction, is now on display in the Financial District.

Using only cans of food and bottled drinks, —to later be donated to City Harvest— design firms from around the city built structures now on view at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center.

All the food used to make the skillfully crafted sculptures will be given to the soup kitchens and food pantries of City Harvest, a non-profit organization trying to alleviate the stresses of New York’s needy.

The exhibit had three winning creations: Best in Show won by Arianna Braun Architects which crafted “Feed the Bank,” Best Use of Label went to Ted Moudis Associates, who designed the Beatles-inspired “We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends,” and Best Structural Integrity awarded to Platt Byard Dovell White Architects and the gravity defying “A Fungus to Feed Us.” Of course the real prize is that the food will go to help the less fortunate.

Canstruction is a foundation run by the Society for Design Administration (SDA). The SDA claims over 10 million pounds of food have been donated to local food banks through Canstruction. Later this year and into 2010, Canstruction events are being held all over the country, including the founding cities of Denver and Austin in the following weeks. The event has grown to include over 130 competitions in the '09-'10 circuit.

You can view the free exhibit until Nov. 23rd, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The public is invited to donate cans of food at the event.