010
Arte Útil archive nr:
010
Initiator:
Krzysztof Wodiczko
Location:
US
Category:
economy, social
Users:
Homeless people in New York City
Maintained by:
Krzysztof Wodiczko
Certification:
prototype
Duration:
1987 - 1989
Krzysztof Wodiczko
-
Homeless Vehicle
Description:
A hinged metal vehicle, which can be extended to provide sleeping, washing, and toilet facilities as well as a can-storage compartment. The product had been tested by a panel of homeless people and adapted to the precise subsistence needs of its prospective users.
Goals:
To create a tool for increased self-sustainability and survival of urban nomadic workers who opt out of the shelter system. To create mobile architecture which communicates the relationship of the homeless to the rest of the city, as legitimate members of the community and citizens.
Beneficial Outcomes:
The homeless become actors, orators, workers, all things which they usually are not. The Homeless Vehicles let them speak and tell their own stories and legitimate them as actors on the urban stage.