Urban Revolution S/A

It’s common for me – and for a lot of people – to stay at internet finding some interesting things to pass the time. Last month I found one pretty portfolio, the owner of it is Hlin Helga.

Immediately I was to look for some address of email to send a message to try to speak with Hlin about her projects – in special about her job in a parking place.

By the way, talking about it, I think Hlin is the best person to introduce the concept of her ideas.

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Tell me the idea of your project in a parking place (pretend that you’re explaining this to someone that have any idea about it).

– I guess you could say my project was essentially about reclaiming public spaces; those spaces, that by definition should belong to all, but actually belong to none. It was about intervening and interfering with the city landscape and having a say, as a designer, on how things are done in our environment and hopefully act as a catalyst for other people to question things and express themself in the city. I considered myself a designer-activist while performing the installation. A part of this project was my idea of creating a design collectiv whose target would be to design experiences rather than products. This “Parking play” being the first project.

With “Parking play” I wanted to localize this particual parking place to fight the general banalism of our city, but even more importantly, I wanted to interfere with people’s behaviour,  to create a moment of surprise for the museum visitor, an unexpected welcome. I decided to use “Kjarval”, the famous icelandic painter, after which the museum is named, as a starting point. I discovered he travelled a lot by taxi and came across an interview with his old taxidriver that painted a very human picture of what the painter was like. I decided to quote this taxi driver as I wrote on the white stripes of the parking place.

How people acted when they saw the marking at the parking place?

– People acted differently. Some were obviously more curious than others and started reading very intensively, walking from one parking place to another to read it all.

And what you expected that the people did?

– In fact I didn’t know what to expect from people. But I was hoping that people would stop and think, not only about this parking place, but about our surroundings in general. Things do not need to be boring, we can and should make our imprint on our surroundings, we should reclaime the public spaces, make them ours again.

(Watch this video to see the reaction of the people at the parking place)

Do you feel that the people understand your idea? Why?

– I feel that people need a couple of minutes to understand what my project is about, but it makes them curious and once they get it they love the idea, and get quite enthousiastic about it.

What do you think about this kind of urban revolution for big cities?

– I think they’re in the air. We’ve got enough of products, we need experiences now. A good example of this is the “Urban Play” Project by Droog a couple of weeks ago. My project could just as well have been a part of that. I feel that people that experienced the “Parking play” connected immediately to the project. Others needed a couple of explanations, but everybody gets kind of curious aobut it and once they get it they love the idea, and get quite enthousiastic about it. I think people connect with it because we’re all ready for a change; we would in fact all like to have something to do with our surroundings.

Moving of subject, I know you’re graduated from the University of Arts (Reykjavik), tell me what are your favorite artist and why you like him (or her).

– I graduated from the Design Department within the University of Arts in Reykjavik, so my interest lies mostly within the domain of design. My favorite designers is the design group FRONT from Sweden. Their view on things is so fresh and genuine. But the “Icelandic Love Corporation” is one of my favorite artists, their installations touch me everytime. I guess the notion of time in their work is very appealing to me.  Actually, I find that both of those groups “dance” on the fine line between visual arts and design, which I find really interesting. And they do in fact create experiences!

And about music, what groups (or singers) do you like to listen?

– I love the icelandic band “Hjaltalin”, Serge Gainsbourg, Sebastian Tellier and Damien Rice to name a few.

Music and art (in general) inhale you when you’re doing your projects? How? If you have some example, it will be good to know.

– My main inspiration and catalyst for my work are natural elements, such as the strenght of a furious windstorm or the endless sound of rain on my roof. Then music helps me forget my analytical mind for a second or two, which can be really helpful!

_update:

(Hlin told me some coments about two questions)

Do you feel that the people understand your idea? Why?

– I feel that people that experienced the “Parking play” connected immediately to the project. Others needed a couple of explanations, but everybody gets kind of  curious aobut it and once they get it they love the idea, and get quite enthousiastic about it. I think people connect with it because we’re all ready for a change; we would in fact all like to have something to do with our surroundings.

What do you think about this kind of urban revolution for big cities?

– I think they’re in the air. We’ve got enough of products, we need experiences now. A good exemple of this is the “Urban Play” Project by Droog a couple of weeks ago. My project from last spring could just as well have been a part of that. In fact this is happening all over the world. Quite a few artists have already been playing around within the city landscape, but now it’s time for the designers to do so. It’s not just about beauty, but functionality of things and meaning of life actually. I believe the role of the designer here is to create experiences; to design meaningful experiences of time, like “my colleagues” at the Experience Design department of Konstfack, Stockholm.