salvage accomodation
tools stamina by ivan hernandez
visibility survival adaptation
Vehicular Refuge is a vehicle meant to get the attention of people. It positions the homeless as an athlete, moving if not swiftly at least noticeably through the streets. Made out of two recuperated tractor wheels separated by a plastic chair, Vehicular Refuge is activated in a similar way as a wheelchair, where with the arms one pushes a metal bar that connects and moves the wheels. One wheel is used to store cans for recycling and the other is used as a small hammock-shape space to rest in. The intention of the Vehicular Refuge is to convert the homeless, a non-visible presence, into a sort of Mad Max character that projects his mobility back onto the city. Kimono Refuge is a garment that enhances the fact that homeless people tend to carry their home with them. Made as an apparently simple garment, each of its parts, its patterns (as a sewer would refer to each of the pieces that compose a garment) disassembles in order to be reassembled in a different composition. This new composition creates a tent-like structure. So as one finishes the day, one removes one’s clothes to create with that same material a shelter to rest in. These tools do not attempt to solve their living condition; they instead try to activate a response through critical humour – they enhance a problematic, exaggerate a condition, call attention to what tends to go unnoticed. /
As we walk through the crowded streets of the city, we are taught, by osmosis, not to notice the homeless. We know we have just passed over or next to a body, but we convince ourselves that we might have just step over a bundle of stuff. To miss seeing them allows us to rush by them unperturbed on our way to the office. They, the homeless, in return learn to pass unnoticed, to become invisible, to camouflage themselves into a corner, hoping passer-byers will just throw a coin in their direction with no specific purpose in mind. Perhaps, even, their strong odour even becomes an intentional strategy to establish a distance, a non-visible barrier of protection that guarantees them a safety net. We are told homeless people represent a non-productive non-member of society. They are labelled parasites, organisms that live off other organisms without giving anything back. But if one takes the time to observe and comprehend their survival skills, one might come to the conclusion that they are athletic urbanites par excellence . They move with great efficacy but also know how to conserve their energy standing motionless, they know how to respond to immediate conditions of the terrain even though they do not belong anywhere. They can make of the most inhospitable place a place of refuge. With an appreciation of their survival skills, I set up myself to design a series of critical but practical tools, that would not attempt to solve the problem of homelessness, but instead would call attention to the problem itself – the problem being one of perception, of invisibility – where the purpose is to make apparent their non-presence in the city. I wanted to equip them, to aid them as the urban athletes they have to be, constantly exercising, moving and adjusting within the city.
On Site review 24
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