New York artist Justin Gignac sold out clear-cube collectibles filled with trash collected outside Madison Square Garden after Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding [1].
The project highlights the extreme nature of modern celebrity fandom, where discarded waste is transformed into high-value memorabilia through the lens of conceptual art.
Gignac gathered the debris in July 2024 following the wedding ceremony held on July 13, 2024 [1, 2]. He encased the found items in clear acrylic cubes, marketing them as unique artifacts of a pop-culture milestone. The artist began selling the items online the week after the event [2].
"I call them ‘Pocket Garbage’ – a little piece of pop-culture history you can actually hold," Gignac said [3].
The pricing for the "Pocket Garbage" series varied based on the perceived value of the contents. Base prices for the collectible cubes started at $25 [2], while premium versions reached a maximum price of $100 [4].
Despite the unconventional nature of the product, demand was immediate. The collection sold out online within days [2]. Gignac used the wedding's high visibility to tap into the desire for physical connections to the couple's private milestones, even if that connection is through refuse found on a public sidewalk [3, 5].
This approach to art mirrors a broader trend of "found object" curation, though it specifically targets the intersection of celebrity obsession and consumerism. By framing trash as a souvenir, Gignac questioned the boundary between waste and treasure in the digital age [3, 5].
““I call them ‘Pocket Garbage’ – a little piece of pop-culture history you can actually hold.””
This event illustrates the 'memorabilia economy,' where the value of an object is derived entirely from its proximity to a celebrity rather than its intrinsic utility. By successfully monetizing literal trash, Gignac demonstrates how celebrity branding can override traditional notions of value and hygiene, turning a public space's waste into a scarce commodity.
