Piles Collective - Taking in the Trash Opening Reception - Open Registration
Join us for the opening reception of Taking in the Trash.
Featuring a DJ set from Jin as well as beverages and snacks. $10 suggested donation supports this but the event is NOTAFALF.
Since 2023 Piles Collective has been gathering and documenting trash on the streets of San Francisco and transforming it into art. Along the way they’ve hosted immersive shows and workshops to involve the community in celebration and creation. From a tech office turned underground club, Battery Godfrey, Uzay Gallery, MAG Galleries and now Frontier Tower, each show pushes collective members to expand their skills and push materials and concepts further.
For Taking in the Trash, Piles Collective teamed up with the SOMA West Community Benefit District (CBD) to source street trash at scale. Founded in 2020, SOMA West CBD employs 39 workers to collect over 825,000 pounds of trash annually from the area between 6th Street and South Van Ness Avenue.
“Other CBD’s get to program Salesforce Park, or bring in 30,000 tulips to Union Square. At SOMA West, we mostly pick up trash, so when Liz and Jules proposed taking our trash to make art, that is an infinite resource that we were happy to provide.”
We worked closely with the teams to source objects that inspired us and specifically clothing. Thanks to support of SF Arts Commission Grant, Liz Cahill was able to help fund a bonus for the workers to gather clothing.
The finished artworks are just one part of the journey. Alongside trash collection efforts we’ve hosted and attended clothing swaps, administered “Buy Nothing” Facebook groups, formed relationships with civic leaders, sanitation workers and neighbors - housed and unhoused. In 2024 California enacted the most aggressive Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law for textiles in the United States SB 707. Piles Collective wants to enter these larger conversations and scale our efforts.
We hope that everyone we meet along the way evolves their relationship with waste and feels the creative sparks of its potential to become a resource again.
Public Programming
Textile Painting Workshop 19th 6-9pm
Rubbish Happy Hour April 21st. 5-9pm
Earth Day Happy Hour April 22nd 3-7pm
J.Ehren Fashion Show April 25th 6-10PM
“Closing Swap” Clothing Swap April 27th 6-9pm
Piles Collective
Liz Cahill, Paul Reginato Juliane Roberts-Hansen Emin Israfil, Joey Ehrenberg, and Kelsie Jones
The collective has collaborated with the SOMA West CBD ambassadors to source objects collected from the streets, especially clothing, for reuse.
The SOMA West Community Benefit District was formed in 2020 as San Francisco’s largest CBD, encompassing 107 blocks. In calendar year 2025, it picked up 828,875 lbs of trash and 66,816 individual turds from the neighborhood. It provides a 24/7 safety patrol, and dispatch services for security requests. It also hosts the seasonal SOMA Nights street fair, and other community events. It is the only CBD to host an Artist in Residence.
This event is hosted at the Frontier Tower:
We are transforming a 16-floor tower in San Francisco into a self-governed vertical village—a hub for frontier technologies and creative arts. Tier-one labs presenting AI, Ethereum, biotech, neuroscience, longevity, robotics, makerspace, human flourishing, and arts & music. These floors will house innovators and creators pushing the boundaries of human potential in a post-AI-singularity world.
Apply here for founding citizenship: https://frontiertower.io/apply
Why should I become a citizen?
Be part of creating the first self-governed vertical village
Connect with the most creative people in the city
Get access to all floors, free event space & movement floor
Website: https://frontiertower.io/
Need more reading? Visit https://frontiertower.notion.site/