All public works projects address the question how users of public space are engaging with their environment and how design and programmatic strategies can support and facilitate physical, economical and social infrastructures in the public realm. public works’ art and architecture collaboration is using the methodology of art led processes to explore how existing social dynamics can inform spatial, architectural and urban proposals.
Granville Cube
Granville Cube constitutes the Public Art Programme that runs alongside the Granville New Homes Development, by Levitt Bernstein Architects in South Kilburn, between September 2005 and August 2007.
The Cube is a simple metal frame structure that will travel to various locations on and around the Granville New Homes site. The structure acts as a communication and facilitation devise on site, to host small-scale local events and to collect and stage ideas for the use of the public realm.
Polly Brannan is running a weekly on-site programme, ranging from Carroll Singing to Swap Shops, Flower Planting to Mega Fish Tanks. Simple add-ons can turn the cube into i.e. an exhibition space, small stage, outdoor screen, workshop space, etc.
All events and work in progress are announced on the billboard.
The cube will be on site until August 2007 and will be appropriated over time, turning into an archive and enactment of ideas for the public space in this area.
MOBILE PORCH started in Nov 99 as a temporary site-specific proposal for the public art program of NKAT, coordinated by Georgia Ward. MOBILE PORCH is a collaboration between the artists Kathrin Bšhm & Stefan Saffer and architect Andreas Lang.
Its initial idea was to create a tool that allows links between contemporary art practice and a local audience. During 2000 MOBILE PORCH developed also into a prototype for public sites.
It was designed in order to create an appropriate object for a public sphere that was multifunctional in its use and flexible in its purpose. MP is very clear and very ambiguous, in both its design and its purpose. Its full meaning and definition will be developed over time. MOBILE PORCH can be a shed, a reception desk, a stage, a bench, a lamp, a screen, a catwalk, a workshop, a vehicle, etc. MOBILE PORCH is a flexible structure that fulfills different functions according to the varying situations. It is both a physical structure but also a social one. It is an offer which provides a range of new possibilities.
During the two months residency at North Kensington Amenity Trust MOBILE PORCH was used by a large number of people on Trust land to create short term activities, organize social events or to drop ideas for further projects on site. MOBILE PORCH's presence created a strong feeling of curious interest from its first day on site, "whatsthatallabout". The information and experience gained during this projects is now being discussed as a possible relevant matter at NKAT, concerning further planning. MOBILE PORCH finished it's visit underneath the Westway on 01.01.2001.
Mobile Porch is a mobile mini-architecture designed for roaming the public sphere. It is an urban toy used to engage on a one to one level with the users and governing bodies of public sites. The observations and experiences collected during on-site residencies are a valuable source of information in regard to the state and potential of everyday situations and future policies/strategies. Mobile Porch was developed for the North Kensington Amenity Trust to roam its public domain. Everyone was invited to use it, to shape it, to mould it, and to temporarily own it.
The flexible design allows it to be transformed into a stage, a screen, a reception desk, a dinner table, a shop, an exhibition board, a workshop, a billboard, a hang-out… the possibilities are endless. By using this physical tool to examine the existing non-physical aspects in public spaces (such as lack of play space or platform for expression), we develop new ideas for the use of the neighbouring space.
The playfulness of Mobile Porch works on an one to one scale, allowing its users to express their ideas concerning public space through direct action and participation. What do people come up with when given a flexible space to play with?
Park Products
Kensington Gardens, London
A series of collaboratively produced products using resources found in Kensington Gardens to be exchanged in a non-monetary mini-economy during the summer 2004. Böhm and Lang have been artists-in-residence at the Serpentine Gallery and Kensington Gardens for one year, starting during Summer 2003. They have been working with the Royal Park’s rangers and gardeners, groups of park users, and the Serpentine’s gallery assistants to develop designs for products together with students at the Royal College of Art.
A ‘market stall’ – a folding, mobile trading platform designed by the artists – has been sited in various locations in the park during August and September 2004, where the products were on offer and circulated in a non-monetary mini-economy. The exchange was facilitated by various ‘currencies’ – tasks or actions that have been suggested by park staff or other groups – that are given a specific value to be exchanged for a specific product. The structure and the trading system supports a new social space in the park delineated by a network of previously unrelated groups. The products operate as ‘tools of contact’, mediating between the Gallery, the artists and the public.
Prototypes for 10 products have been produced and put into production. A catalogue containing images and information about each product and a text explaining the cultural and social context of the project will be available for sale. To download a pdf vesrion of the catalogue please click the icon below.
public works recently revisited the project and explored the spaces which were created by park products. The book is titled "If you can't find it, give us a ring." and contains an interview with Andreas Land & Kathrin Böhm of public works and an essay by Doina Petrescu, "Working towards a real public space". Click the icon below to download a pdf version of the artist pages or visit www.ixia-info.com to order a hardcopy of the compleete publication
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"If you can't find, give us a ring" |
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