Work
Peterman's work is an example of adaptive reuse though he was practicing it long before it had an official title. Peterman takes existing objects and manipulates them to show their original purpose while exposing the possibility for newness. His work explores the "intersection of art and ecology" and he "embraces a wide variety of formal and situational strategies, and employs a range of materials including recycled plastic and metals, as well as organic and post-consumer waste."
Though Peterman usually exhibits his work in museums and at art galleries, he is known for displaying his art for the general public. The most known example is his running table, a 100-foot-long picnic table located in Chicago's Millennium Park. The table "considers issues around consumption and recycling" and is "made from the equivalent of two million recycled milk bottles." Another of Peterman's works, an 80' x 80' dance floor often used by the City of Chicago for summer events, is located just a few blocks away in Grant Park.
