The ExperimentaDesign project this year in Amsterdam showcased the Plaited Fence by Martin Ruiz de Azua. He is a designer who is based in Barcelona and is especially known for his “Basic House”, 1999 – MOMA N.Y.
He first made the Plaited Fence in conjunction with Droog earlier this year for Milan Design Week and focused on” A Touch of Green” by providing inspiration on sustainability from a variety of angles.
For ExperimentaDesign, he re-created the Plaited Fence with the same message. It was erected outside the beautiful Pakhuis de Zwijger building, right on the waterfront of the “IJ” . It basically consists of 10 metal pipe fences , joined together and laced with thick green elastics. The idea is for the public to weave unwanted trash through the elastics to create a denser barrier. By doing so, he illustrates how plastic bags can be used again, to help save the environment.
Some Rietveld students from the Textile Departmenet TXT saw this as a great opportunity. They gathered all their materials before hand and started very early in the morning. On that morning they were greeted by the Droog team armed with the metal pipes, elastic bands and a rough cad illustration instructing them how to assemble the fence, but no designer. They worked on the fence for 2 days. Lynn Heffebuyck, one of the contributers from the Rietveld thought the fence was a good idea but very impractical if you want to do something esthetically pleasing. I think they did a marvelous job and that they literally “made” the Plaited Fence.
After visiting this piece on numerous occasions and seeing it in various states. I realised that quite a significant amount of the trash making up this installation, was ending up in the water of the “IJ”. This detrimental ecological side-effect, seemed to be working in opposition to his concept. This negated the effectiveness of his installation in my opinion. Here follows a photographic report with actual dates (on rollover) to illustrate the “disappearing” rubbish.
posting by Leanie van der Vyver
