During this project, we wanted to address our topic, (hunger) in the most effective way possible. One of the ideas that we had in addressing hunger was creating our own version of Canstruction. Canstruction is an annual exhibition where designers and architects build sculptures completely out of food cans. After Canstruction is over, all of the food cans the were used to create these large sculptures are donated to anti-hunger organizations. We thought that Canstruction was extremely unique and special because it was a way of raising awareness and impacting hunger at the same time. Another idea that we had was the concept of “thinking beyond the can drive.” We learned about this concept from an interview that we had with Joel Berg, who is the Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, which is an anti-hunger organization in NYC. “Thinking beyond the can drive” is the concept of looking at hunger from an even deeper level and trying to impact it in a more sustainable way. In other words, “thinking beyond the can drive” means that hunger can’t just be solved by soup kitchens, food pantries and can drives. To end hunger forever in the United States, we learned that federal feeding programs, such as SNAP (food stamps) impact hunger the most, where as can drives indeed help the hungry, but they aren’t necessarily the most efficient and sustainable way to solve hunger in our country. After gaining experience on hunger by volunteering at food pantries and soup kitchens and by interviewing hunger experts, we imagined that having our own Canstruction was the best way for us to impact hunger the most. This is because we couldn’t exactly try to solve hunger on a federal level, so we decided that creating activism art that helped food insecure Americans was the most effective solution that we could actually take on.
