An overview of Art Bin, a giant wastebasket filled with artistic items rejected by their owners. (Pascal Leblond/CBC)He calls it a “monument to creative failure,” but British artist Michael Landy’s most recent installation has been a resounding success.

Landy's Art Bin, a giant galvanized steel and polycarbonate wastebasket, takes up a whole room in the South London Gallery. The bin is filled with drawings, paintings and sculptures, all rejected by their creators.

There are the menacing teeth of a glittering skull sculpture Damien Hirst wasn’t happy with – Hirst’s most recent work sold for $16 million. A flag by Tracey Emin, another famous British artist, lies partly hidden by a picture frame. And mixed up with celebrities’ work is the art of amateurs and students. That’s one of the installation’s attractions, says Landy. “There’s no hierarchy in the bin.”

Discarded teeth from an early version of a diamond-encrusted skull sculpture by artist Damien Hirst. (Pascal Leblond/CBC)For the duration of the exhibition, artists are invited to toss their works into the bin and are inspired to do so for a variety of reasons. Some see it as the perfect opportunity to get rid of failures. Others, notes Landy, consciously toss in artwork they actually like. For them, Art Bin is a kind of sacrifice.

Landy is no stranger to sacrifice. He’s best known for Break Down, a 2001 installation in which he publicly destroyed all of his possessions while in an abandoned department store on London’s Oxford Street. As with Break Down, the purpose of Art Bin, says Landy, is to examine “the worth our society gives to things.”

People have to apply to have their work added to the bin, but Landy rarely turns down entries. He says it isn’t up to him to decide what counts as a failure, and he enjoys listening to the stories behind the art people bring in.

Joe Passaretti's artwork Hanging Screws just prior to being added to the Art Bin installation. (Pascal Leblond/CBC)Joe Passaretti travelled all the way from Toronto with his offering. A soundman for CBC-TV's Fifth Estate, he’s an artist in his spare time. His Hanging Screws was popular with his friends, but he had doubts about it. “I put it together in five seconds,” he says, inspired by some “perfect screws” he found in Home Depot.

Hanging Screws makes a loud clatter as Joe hurls it into the bin from an elevated platform. The screws roll everywhere, some into other rejected works. It’s this aspect of the installation that most appeals to Landy – the fact that it changes with each new submission. As artworks build up and merge with each other, the bin becomes more and more like a ruin.

In a few weeks these failed works will be gone for good, broken down and carted off to a landfill site. The exhibition runs until March 14. Application forms are available at www.art-bin.co.uk.

Elizabeth Davies is a producer at CBC London.