7transformations

T he existence of a hidden fabric, pathways and nodes of use that are not recognized by the audible language of the city are revealed by watching the marginalised street culture living in the public spaces of the city. In this project the contradictions and false- hoods in the perception of public space are made apparent when a city, in this case Halifax, is confronted by three active installations. The installations impart a story of the indifference of modern public space towards people who make it their living room. Each installation builds on the previous one transforming the face of the city into one of human inclusion, into one that accommodates and encourages difference. All of the installations were imposed upon the city and the city itself dismantled them. The disassembly of each of the installations reveals the city’s attitude to difference.The modern city does not acknowledge alternative ways of living, in this case living in public space.The aggressiveness of the Boxman installation asks the question: what would it take be acknowledged, to move from an uncomprehending to a conscious city? The power of the installations lies in the strategic act of installing them in public space, the reaction of the city to the installations as objects, and the continued discussion of what these observations of event mean for a new conception of the public city. It is an architectural task to disassemble the indifference of public space; to call the hoax, to isolate elements of candor — the straight-up facts of human use and desire — and to construct an urban weave that includes marginalised groups and ordinary spaces to create a very different kind of ‘publicness’. The tools required to transform the city already exist.The animation of human transactions is less about surveillance and control and more about the design of successful space for patterns of activity that already occur It is a conscious move away from fear and toward the surfaces, scale and human presence in every aspect of public living. 

Tool List: 1 gallon white paint 2 nails 2 washers 2 paint rollers 2 crosswalk signs 3 helpers 1 video camera 1 video tape

1 stool 1 truck

Tool List: 4 - 1 inch dowels (sharpened) cardboard roof 4 elastic bands 1 metallic emergency blanket 2 pens 3 hammers duct tape 3 stools 1 video camera 1 video tape 5 helpers

Tool List: 3 large boxes (modified) 3 digital cameras 3 helpers 1 bus ticket

Tracey Mactavish spent two years work- ing in the Canadian Arctic before moving to the west coast. She is currently work- ing with Marceau Evans Architects in Vancouver. These installations were part of her1998 MArch thesis at TUNS (now Dalhousie), House of Tools.

face intérieure des murs et des stylos-feutres sont mis à la disposition de ceux qui veu- lent y répondre. Les réponses apportées sont la preuve même d’une interaction humaine. Les Boxmen sont des structures portatives qui se déplacent dans l’espace public. D’un côté, chaque « homme de boîte »

a une vue encadrée et chan- geante de la ville; de l’autre, toute interaction avec la boîte se limite à la surface extérieure de celle-ci. Le vide urbain, c’est- à-dire ce qui est à l’extérieur de la boîte, devient si vaste et impersonnel que le lieu privé, c’est-à-dire l’intérieur de la boîte, devient très cher à la personne qui s’y trouve. Deux

des personnes, avant d’avoir terminé leur trajet, se sont fait demander de retirer leur boîte. L’accès à un centre commercial a été interdit à une autre, tandis qu’une quatrième a été inter- rogée par la police.

des édifices, ou d’un genre de masque qui sert à tromper le public ? Chacune des petites ouvertures pratiquées dans les trois côtés de l’objet offre une vue encadrée des édifices pub - lics suivants : la bibliothèque publique, le Palais de justice de Halifax et la Technical Univer- sity of Nova Scotia. Des ques- tions sont inscrites sur la

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