Orange Works

2010-05-21T02:52:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Orange Works is an ongoing collaboration project, started in 2004, to build unauthorized temporary urban constructions camouflaged as in-process construction sites in order to probe existing spatial pressures, and reorganize public spaces to allow for new social uses.

The emphasis of the project is more on the uses and reactions the different types of constructions trigger, within a specific social and spatial setting, than on the formal architectural features of the constructions themselves. In this sense, the constructions are never seen as the end result of the individual interventions, but rather as the triggering event of an indeterminately extended process that includes:

1. The documentation of the reactions of the local population to the constructions (use, appropriation, alteration, resistance, destruction);

2. The establishment of relationships between the artists and the local population as mediated by the constructions (explanations, interviews, discussions, disputations, collaborations);

3. Maintenance and/or alterations of the constructions as a reaction to points 1. and 2., aiming at the establishment of a feed-back loop between the artists and other agents that claim the site;

4. Research on the site’s situation within the surrounding urban context (i.e. historical background, zoning, actual and planned uses and constructions, economic value and speculation, exclusivity, social stratification, etc.)

The interventions have lasted periods from two days to 10 weeks, depending upon the interaction between the structure’s degree of architectural integration into the environment, and the degree of spatial resistance enacted by authority actors (property owners, police etc.) with an interest in spatial control.

The intention is to make constructions too formally idiosyncratic to be easily digested into the strident visual noise of traffic and construction signage yet too ubiquitous in materials to allow immediate certainty as to the nature of the architectonic device. In this way, the temporary urban development construction provokes questioning as to the power dynamics of public space and the future of the built environment. The aim is that the public will question the constructions themselves, their intended function and who made them, triggering more participatory practices.

The interventions have made material connections between public and private spaces, created permeable private spaces within public spaces, or offered alternative forms of existing public functions, creating uncanny situations between recognition and confusion, and provoking diverse, long-term reactions from the public, varying from active questioning to consternation, wariness to laughter.

2008-12-30T11:38:00.000-08:00

2008-12-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

Solarium

2007-10-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Public park at the corner of Lakkegate and Nylandsvine, Oslo, September 2007

The park was used by local residents to walk their babies or dogs but also by drug dealers and users. In particular, the pedestal of the Elk’s statue was often used as a bench to rest, chat, smoke, drink or, occasionally, for hard-drugs consumption.

The first decision was that this already existing functionality of the statue’s pedestal should be exploited and developed. This would allow for the establishment of a contrasting relationship between our artistic intervention and classical sculpture. This relationship was to be mediated by the notions of public use (function) and representation (symbol).

As a first, provisional step, a couch was displaced from a nearby dumpster and placed in front of the statue. A few authority signs were placed alongside the couch as if to indicate that the area was soon to become the site of an undetermined construction or repair.

After one week and some indications of use the couch was taken away by unknown parties (probably the city park’s cleaning staff).

The next step was to build a wooden shelter containing a small bed, storage space and a lounge chair facing southwards onto the valley. Two sets of modular foldable walls were attached to the shelter allowing for different levels of enclosure to be achieved. The surrounding area was further enclosed by two sets of fixed walls and a picnic table with benches was placed at the center.

The intention was to provide a series of functions allowing diverse types of uses. This would trigger a series of claims and counter-claims to the site (negotiations), thereby bringing to view the existing local vectors of power and provoke the user’s curiosity (what is this?) and creativity (how can I use it?).

The shelter was quickly used by passers-by. An unknown person slept inside it on the first night using the movable walls to completely enclose the shelter to provide for privacy.

After two weeks the shelter was permanently squatted and used as a home. The accumulation of trash and needles eventually attracted the police’s attention who demanded the whole complex to be dismantled.

photo: Hillevi Munthe

The squatters helped on the dismantling process recuperating various materials and parts for future use.

[go to Urban Interface Oslo blog]

Adam Smith Memorial

2006-12-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

Piazza Sant'Ambrogio, Milan, 2006

A four-meter-tall orange cone seizing one parking slot in Piazza Sant'Ambrogio and claiming it to be private property. Attached to the cone, a giant plastic hand, filled with balloons, flew over Milan until it got detached and disappeared. This hand evoked Adam Smith's concept of the hidden hand, an incomprehensible quasi-religious mechanism that caused, so he believed, liberal markets and the individual pursuit of profit to be beneficial to the whole society.

This project was produced by Ricardo Crespi Gallery in the context
of the exhibition Seeing the Invisible.

lexicon

2006-10-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

Football

2006-05-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Oeiras Golf and Residence, Oeiras, 2006.

The Oeiras Golf and Residence luxury housing development provided, according to its sales agent, every sporting amenity with the exception of football. This was significant, as on the streets of the nearby São Marcos housing development, groups of working-class youths played football on empty streets. The Oeiras development used the manicured space of the golf course as a de facto barrier to São Marcos.
The action consisted in the construction of a football pitch for children in an appropriated parcel of the Oeiras Golf and Residence development, adjacent to São Marcos. The logo of the Oeiras development was displayed by the pitch announcing it to be open to the public.

photo: Edgar Massul

Open House

2006-05-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

York Street, Brooklyn, 2006.

A wood and orange webbing construction was left by the sidewalk in York Street. Inside there was a table, benches and a small terrace, also with a bench, overlooking the street. Signs were attached to the exterior wall inviting passers-by to enter and use the shelter. It was used by the local residents for several weeks. On a few occasions, the shelter’s occupants were aggressively expelled by the police who believed the shelter to be the property of some city utilities company. The structure was later vandalized by the police and removed by the sanitation department.

Infogon

2005-05-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

Chelas Valley, Lisbon, 2005.

An octagonal information kiosk with an orange webbing dome was constructed on an empty terrain in Chelas, a derelict neighborhood in Lisbon. Inside was displayed information about the site, such as, zoning regulations and future, planned, constructions. The structure was gradually destroyed by unknown parties and its remnants taken away.

Bus Stop

2004-05-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, 2004.

A wooden structure, covered with plastic and orange webbing, was assembled and left on the sidewalk adjacent to the area where the local bus usually stops in Myrtle Avenue. The structure was appropriated by the public and used as a bus stop during one month.