Baffled students watch 29 TONNES of carrots being dumped outside a London university as an art installation about food waste - before nabbing a few for their dinner
This is the bizarre moment a 29-tonne load of carrots was dumped outside a London university as an art installation highlighting food wastage.
The carrots were tipped out by the Ben Pimlott Building at Goldsmiths College in New Cross, which is part of the University of London.
Video footage taken by student Matt Colquhoun shows the seemingly endless stream of carrots - and some potatoes - spilling out of the large truck while confused students watched on Tuesday.
The 29-tonne pile was later revealed as an art installation called Grounding, by Rafael Perez Evans ahead of Goldsmiths's MFA degree show, which will kick off on Friday.
The art project highlights the issues of food waste as all of the vegetables used were unwanted and would not have made it on to UK supermarket shelves.
Baffled students filmed as a truck dump 29 tonnes of carrots and potatoes outside the Ben Pimlott Building at Goldsmiths College in New Cross, which is part of the University of London
Despite a warning sign saying that the carrots are 'not for human consumption', many peckish students have taken some of them home to eat, as well as climbing on the installation to take photos.
The carrot mound will remain on the campus until the show closes next Tuesday, when the vegetables will be collected by the Spanish-Welsh artist and donated as animal feed.
Musical theatre student Eden Groualle, 20, described the installation as 'very bizarre'.
Others on Twitter said the carrot pile was a scene that could only be found at Goldsmiths, and others slammed the artwork as 'pretentious'.
One person joked: 'Putting carrots on the floor and calling it art is peek art pretentiousness. My rabbit would appreciate it tho.'
Another said: 'Something wonderfully haunting about seeing a bunch of Goldsmiths students wearing masks and looking at a massive mound of carrots.'
Some students said they felt torn about dumping such large quantities of edible food, despite the artist saying the vegetables were rejected by supermarkets.
Some students felt torn at the dumping of piles of edible food, with Josie Power , 20, saying she felt conflicted by the 'surreal' artwork
The vegetable pile is art installation called Grounding by Rafael Perez Evans, set up as a commentary on food waste. The artist said the carrots had not made it to supermarket shelves
History student Lester Langford, 20, from Warwickshire, said: 'Even though the carrots are being donated to farm animals at the end of the piece, it's still slightly problematic given the poverty, food shortages and homelessness in Lewisham.'
Josie Power, originally from Norwich, said she felt conflicted by the 'surreal' artwork.
The 20-year-old student, who studies performance, politics and society, said: 'It was something so fun and bizarre to go and see… but also it's hard not to acknowledge the glaring problems with food wastage.'
She added: 'It's certainly an interesting way to gain attention for a social cause!'
According to the artist's website, the installation explores 'the tensions in visibility between the rural and the city', and was inspired by European farmers dumping produce as a form of protest.
'The therapeutic technique of grounding involves doing activities that "ground" or electrically reconnect you to the earth,' he added.