_absract_

The initial intentions guided the decision to deconstruct into three basic elements, two metal pieces, ‘the shaft’ and ‘the spider’, and the textile. The process of deconstruct each model of umbrellas gave us a different set of small pieces of plastic or metal that are specific for each of them based on the model and the quality.

The average umbrella is a short-lasting product, often cheaply made and not overall resilient to heavy weather conditions. The result is an appalling amount of thrown-away umbrella corpses scattered around the city and – due to it´s volume – among the most prominent littered object in the urban environment. Many times, the damage is minor, just applying to one small component, but severe enough to make the whole system unusable and therefore dispensable. With often more than 85percent of the umbrella structure still being intact, they provide for an excellent (and free) building material which triggered our interest in modifying them into a new shape and – potentially – also giving them a new function. One of the early drafts is a “collective umbrella” to eliminate the distancing factor and create a feeling of union. The very stability of the structure depends on the participation of multiple carriers in order to hold it upright.

The challenge is figuring out how to reassemble the elements to create a bigger shelter for collective activation. We decided to work with the circular textile element as it is, just putting together a lot of pieces to construct a bigger textile, sort of an oversized poncho. The idea is to keep the circular shape because it automatically gives us the idea of the previous object, which we understand interesting to keep.

The umbrella textiles when sewn together offer activation opportunities: A place to hide - a cover - a semi-permeable skin – a kinetic volume, moved by the actors. The holes between the sewn pieces create a possibility to break the abstractness and give view to the “driving force”, the bodies underneath. A communal choreography with the umbrella-cloth being stage, reqistite AND costume at the same time. The flexibility of the structure allows for various “landscapes”: from a tightly packed squad to a spread out surface - from a motionless matter lying on the floor to a wild wave that can move around the space.

The situation point for the project at this moment is related to study different forms of activation for a group of persons, based on the idea of work with the own bodies to be protected with the big shelter: The pluralification of the formerly singular object and the recycling of the given materials.

The involvement of multiple actors is key in this work – it shall not simply become a static sculpture but an activational tool to be played with by a group of the users/performers/shelter-seeking. Think about the possibilities of embodied communication enhanced by the collective use of a large piece of fabric that unites all bodies; possible negotiations between walking quickly or slowly, deciding changes of direction. As a large body with 'decentralized intelligence' capable of testing collective skills to horizontalize decision-making.