Transgressive Architecture

The Bad- Sheets @ The RIBA

14.03.01 - 17:00 -22:00 One off Installation and Intervention at the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architecture), 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD,

To protest against the social cleansing of public spaces that has taken place in London and other cities during the past few months, the Transgressive Architecture group will carry out an intervention / create an installation in front of the Royal Institute of British Architects on the evening of 14th March. This intervention is inspired by rough sleepers, and other street communities who are pursued by the authorities' zero tolerance approach.

The intervention and installation "The Bad-Sheets", which will take place at the RIBA, on March 14, between 17:00-21:00, contains 7 bed-sheets that will be laid down, in front of the institution. On these sheets are photos of different transgressive activities, such as rough sleeping, sex cruising, street vending and demonstrating, in different public spaces in London and other cities in Europe, America and Asia. The work is produced by the Transgressive Architecture (T/A) Group.

The bed-sheets, (lying on the pavement) blur the boundary between private and public and between public art or architectural construction of the public space and survival strategies of rough sleepers and other street communities. Using uncommon material to print the photos on, the works also transgress the materiality of the production of the photograph, and the ways they are usually exhibited.

The "Bad Sheets" also contain a critique on the concept of the Dead Zone/urban void/wasteland. When the bed-sheets are unfolded they reassemble a land use map / planning map - inside them are drawn the color codes of such maps ( with commercial, residential etc. zones). However the dominant color of these maps is white - the color which symbolizes on the planning maps areas for future planning, and which are usually conceived of as nonlucrative areas, wasteland, and derelict. A photo of a transgressive activity printed on the edges of these white zones, suggests that these zones are neither empty, nor a waste, but contain subtle activities or communities that urban planners are usually blind to. However this blindness, the works suggest, might be deliberate.

The installation the "Bad Sheets" comes as a critique of the process of cleansing and the zero tolerance approach that has been going on during the past few years in London; some examples being the prohibition of homeless people from sleeping in public spaces (The Strand, Charing Cross underpasses), the closing down at night of Russell Square to prevent cruising, the hunting of street vendors in the West End, (in the near future a task that will be carried out by a private police force), and the closing down of squats. These are only a few examples.

Selecting the RIBA as the first site of this installation (the "Bad sheets" will continue to travel to different spaces in the city in the next few months) is intended to highlight the silence of the architectural profession to this process of social and economical cleansing, that has had a dramatic effects on the city's public spaces. Worse, by including quotations from the "Bible" of English urban planning, the government's publication "Towards Urban Renaissance", within them the art works suggest that the architecture and planning practices play an active role in the process of the current urban cleansing.

The installation and intervention is carried out by Transgressive Architecture group (T/A). The "Bad sheets" will be spread out in other public spaces in London in the next few months. The T/A asks the public not to call the police when they are detected, as they are not explosive; nor should the public try to feed them to the herd of the cows that are going to take over London, as the installations do contain toxic material that may cause vomiting and diarrhea.