tarpaulin

The second phase starts with a public meeting where the map shows often conflicting interests or different views on the same place. This is our way of making the dialogue more constructive – to make people know about other peoples views and disagreeing in a civilised way.

We work out the important issues of the community and start seeing some patterns of possibilities. The dialogue and further stories are also taken to the streets in curated walks. People are free to join in and it usually leads to new stories.

A second public meeting is set in a place central to the local community – here it is a garden that used to belong to a old factory. We opened the garden for experiments before the meeting – inviting people to come with their ideas. Being, building and discussing it in the actual space makes the discussion about space more concrete.

For the actual meeting people would discuss new ideas and form networks around these – Or just build something themselves – for themselves.

Out of this second public meeting evolves a number of new localised networks and ideas.

We collaborated with the builders in the Cooperative Maj. On their recommendation we found some simple combinations of materials that are very easy to work with without being a skilled Craftsperson.

We work with 2 by 2 timber and special type of screws that partly drill themselves through the wood to avoid it from splintering. The timber is rounded on all edges and very fast too cut.

If timber and screws make the “skeleton” of a construction then Tarpaulin makes the skin. We both use recycled stuff (like the Freitag bags) and leftover pieces. Tarpaulin is an amazingly strong material. These materials can be combined in a number of ways and incorporate local materials.

Behind the practical aspects lies the wish to free the possibilities in a community by collaborating and communicating – building together. Appropriating or “taking” a space by actually building something on the spot instead of – or as a part of – discussing what could happen there.

Screws