Design in Motion: The Recycling Truck Project 2010

In 2009 and 2010, Artist Desireé Bender and Big Picture students created Design in Motion, a city-wide public art and graphic design project produced in collaboration with The Design Center at Philadelphia University and commissioned by the City of Philadelphia Streets Department Recycling Office to coincide with the introduction of Philadelphia’s city-wide single-stream recycling program.

The twenty recycling trucks feature artwork created by Mural Arts students in response to their study of historical and contemporary textiles which feature elements drawn from The Design Center’s textile collection. The dedication of the colorful, vinyl-wrapped trucks were celebrated with a parade down Broad Street and a dedication ceremony on Earth Day 2009 and 2010.