Outrageous Yard Sale Stories
The cultural phenomenon of garage and yard sales in the United States has been examined by several artists. The Thunderground Film production Zen and the Art of Yardsailing is a documentary film produced in 2004 that covered the aspects of finding bargains as well as the cutthroat practices of professional resellers and the previously noted "early birds." New Jersey artist Robert A. Emmons, Jr.ˇ¦s short documentary film Yard Sale, released in 2006, examines the American practice of buying and selling goods in oneˇ¦s front yard and the sociological impact of such activities.Tom Zarrilli, an artist, photographer and writer has kept a long running online journal entitled Yard Sale Addict that explores the anthropological aspects of the yard sales he visits near his home in Atlanta, Georgia.
Zarrilliˇ¦s interactive installation "A year in the yards of clutter and the driveways of divestment" was presented at The Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center in 2006. The conceptual work was presented as a staged yard sale with hundreds of the artistˇ¦s photographs embedded in the artifacts. The work was turned into an actual yard sale and sold off item by item at the end of its gallery run.