We are very excited about our new project that will be part of Capana Fest in Plovdiv - the cultural capital of Europe, 2019, which starts on 31st, June. The iron-textile installation is something that we had never done before and to be honest we are a bit scared how it will turn out. Nevertheless, we will give our best to deliver on our vision and commitment.
Stay tuned.
One Design Week is the most prominent cultural event in the local contemporary art scene. Throughout the years, the festival had managed to transform and shape the artistic environment of the whole region. PYM’s project - the dynamic installation “Colorful Circles”, along with few others, was chosen among 57 entries submitted to the Open Call – Can I help you? The installation was exhibited in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on July 10th, 2016 and was dismounted 10 days later.
“The Buttons” are a popular spot at the main pedestrian street in Plovdiv.
It consists of 112 plastic circle seats that people love to sit on.
Our project transformed them into “Colorful Circles” by wrapping the seats with beautiful hand crocheted yarn. Our aim was to provoke the viewers’perceptions and examine how that change affects them. We also observed how reactive they were regarding this transformation. The different design wraps were attached to the seats only by ribbing and could be easily taken off by people. Each day during the festival we monitored the remains of this dynamic installation.
Each of the 112 wrappings had different designs and color combinations. Total yarn length used for the project: 36 250 m. At the end of the festival, 10 days after the exhibit, 45 of the wraps were gone. Here is the dynamic:
Reactions were far more to the positive side of the spectrum. People expressed their sincere admiration to the colorful transformation and stated that this change made them feel better. There were only few who said that they like the things as they were before and didn’t appreciate the change. Literally thousand of photos were taken and shared on-line.
Who reacted the most?
The most reactive were kids, students, old people and foreigners. Seems like the mid aged working people were most disconected to the transformation.
"Colorful Circles" was actually a project that my wife had had in her head for quite some time. Her initial idea was noting more than to put color to the city environment, to provoke positive emotions. Simple as that. Turns out that years later when we were looking for a physical presentation of our next PYM project – boom, that was it. With our third art installation, presented at One Design Week festival, we wanted people to experience change, to slow down and to think about how change in general can impact their own life. And what a better way than to transform a well known place in the city, where everybody stops and slows down anyway.
Why we believe change and slowing down is important?
Our brain is programed to take the easy path, the known path, the logical path and some times the route you need to take is completely the opposite. In a world where everybody screams “Follow your heart, trust your intuition, be yourself, do it now, tomorrow will be late” it is essential to take a step back, to look at the big picture and ask yourself few questions. Consider it as a fast checklist that can save you troubles in the future. Don’t worry it won’t take years, it won’t paralyze your actions or force you to miss important opportunities. It will simply give you the option of the different perspective and allure you towards the right direction.
Change - there are almost no downsides to it. Embrace it with open arms and squeeze out the best from every situation. Every single thing that happens in your life can be a valuable lesson if you look from a certain perspective. You can learn so much even from washing dishes, picking up trash or slicing onions. Store this knowledge, guard it carefully and one day it will pop-up just when you need it. Change can only enrich you so get out of your comfort zone and we promise to pick up the fruits of it in the near future.
Inspired by: Freakonomics, Planet Money
As you know we are in a process of preparing a case study for our ODW project – “Colorful circles”. We have tons of interesting stories and findings to share with you. This will come in the near weeks.
In the meantime, if you are one of those 45 people who for some reason didn’t manage to resist the tempting beauty of the wraps and took them home, here are 3 proposals how to extend their life
a supa-dupa pillow, a hip purse, contemporary wall deco
Transformation is a process that never stops.
contemporary wall deco, a hip purse, a supa-dupa pillow
The title says it all - only one day left to the most prominent cultural event in the contemporary art scene - ONE DESIGN WEEK. You can not afford to miss this incredible festival that had managed to transform and shape the artistic environment of the whole region. The program this year is utterly stunning and you will experience a whole week flooded with amazing events.
As you already know PYM is part of the festival selection. Check out more here.
Can't wait to see you in Plovdiv and have a chat.
Hooray! Happy and proud to announce that we were selected to be a part of One Design Week festival that will take place in Plovdiv between 10th and 19th, June, 2016. Our project, along with 16 other, was chosen among 57 entries submitted to the Open Call – Can I help you? We are really pumped-up and already working with zeal to get the things done on time. We will keep you posted.
More for the festival: http://edno.bg/one-design-week-2016/festivalut
