World Reclamation Art Project

In Syracuse, New York, what was formerly the Nottingham Citgo #53, a fifty-year-old abandoned gas station, has been converted into a work of art, titled WRAP, or the World Reclamation Art Project, by Syracuse University graduate art student Jennifer Marsh. More than 600 yards of brightly colorful canvas cover the gas station, sectioned into 3,400 one-square-foot panels contributed by participants from 15 countries and 29 states in a statement on global dependence on oil.

United by this common cause, WRAP contributors range from professional artists to elementary school children, and their methods run the gamut from knitting to silk screening. Marsh sewed her submissions together, waterproofed the panels, and commenced the installation on April 12, 2008.

The production of WRAP marked the first project of the International Fiber Collaborative, an organization headed by Marsh that has since created a second project, a tree called Interdependence whose fabric leaves have been contributed by supporters across the country.

As of a year ago, the blankets were taken down leaving only the empty abandoned gas station, one that you might never know was once an elaborate art project. It is up to the next Syracuse University graduate student to make something even better out of it.

Update: As of 2013, the gas station is no longer there. The lot is empty. RIP, World Reclamation Art Project.