Trying to carry materials across this crossing has been very very memorable.
All in all these photos should give a flavour of the challenges we faced, from being given the wrong dimensions of the container, to spilling green liquid all over the inside of the container with only half an hour left to finish....
Okay, so its finally all finished, we've been super busy so haven't managed to update the blog as planned so we're going to recap over the last few days, starting with the Pecha Kucha Night and the Pinky Piglets who you should really check out....
My presentation will be available to stream online in the next few days so check it out on the Pecha Kucha website here
Live music was provided by the mental Pinky Piglets, who are very very very good - check them out here
Today is definitely under construction. Although it was easy to bring in the relatively innocent deckchair and thousand piano wire strands, the blood transfer bags which were sent over from China by one of our very efficient contacts, were sadly impounded by customs. Even the might of the show organiser couldn't move the kind of mountains we needed to move, so like the mournful letters of an Elvis song, they are now being returned to sender.
On top of no sleep, which admittedly was self imposed in our quest for the very freshest in fishy goodness, another calamity struck when we discovered on closer inspection of the plan of the exhibition site that the position of the doors of the container we are about to take over is entirely different, being at the side of the container rather than the end! So in a semi intuitive radical redesign, we made a 1:1 prototype of the entire container in the hotel room, ably aided by some beautiful japanese masking tape from Tokyu Hands. (the absolute top shop) We think we now have surmounted the redesign with some fresh ideas- and now we are running off to open up our container for the first time to see if anyone has managed to hide any more worms in that can! Over and out for now…
Ps It's finally sunny!
After a trip to the 24 hour bookstore in Midtown we made our way to a pool and darts hall, where Taichi unfortunately fell victim to a seven ball defeat at the hands of the peoples champ. After an interesting game of 'computer darts' - where each point gained resulted in an area of japan being won, we made the hour long walk to the fish market, just in time for the tuna auction.
Upon the realisation that watching a man repeatedly gutting a fish makes you feel a bit funny inside, we decided to tuck into some sashimi for breakfast and like a real gentleman of the night, I bought £60's worth of dried seaweed.
Team Tokyo has arrived! After a lengthy flight and some very bad films, we have successfully made it to Tokyo along with our deckchair, 1000 pieces of piano wire and some gas masks, and of course some rather suspicious glances at our luggage! We had a quick run around the incredible Tokyu Hands managed to borrow some tools, (Thanks Kaori) and then decided to have a good old fashioned design meeting - Izakaya style... after that we were more than a little tired like the others on our metro heading home
Okay so here's our competition entry board for the installation
The Algae Room
Inspired by the 'homebrew' and the domestic wine production of the Mediterranean, we propose 'The Algae Room' as a speculative reconfiguration of the home, one enabling the domestic production of fuel - the cultivation of Algae and the extraction of its oil.
Through the installation we propose the dissipation of state fuel production, empowering the individual to make more sustainable decisions about how they live and giving them more control over the impact they make on the Earth. Differing stains of Alga can produce different yields, this its production encourages individuals to tailor their 'crops' to their household's energy specifications.
By encouraging the consumption of Nori within the room, we take inspiration from the huge significance of algae within Japanese culture and economy, whilst the glowing, growing algae shifts the emphasis of its value as an edible substance to one with the capacity to fuel our homes.
What kind of potential does this have? Will we end up with mini nightclubs filled with exhaling dancers powering the party? A bit of 'blitz' spirit, as communities come together to make their own fuel? Will energy parties become the new Tupperware parties? Will the home be reconfigured towards the promise of a free and living energy source?
