PASW Regional Newsletter: Autumn 2000
Regional Projects - Spacex Gallery, Exeter - Current Outreach
A transitional housing workshop was led by Mike Lawless of LDA Architects, organised by Spacex Gallery, Exeter, in conjunction with the exhibition 'HOMING: projects for Kosovo'. This temporary structure was built in one day, using rubble, gabions (metal cages) and aluminium foil, by ten homeless men from Gabriel House, assisted by pupils from Barley Lane School and Exeter College Foundation Course. The project was supported by Hesco Bastion Company, Stansell Ltd, Independent Recycling Ltd, Multifoil, Parker Merchandising, Summerfield Developments, Brandon Tool Hire and the Planning Services of Exeter City Council. LDA's design was the only UK finalist in the Architecture for Humanity transitional housing competition run by Warchild US and supported by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The UNHCR is currently considering the Exeter prototype as a model for providing temporary shelter for those caught up in disaster or war-torn areas.
This is the first in an on-going series of site-specific projects beyond the gallery organised by Spacex around a theme of 'the home'. Up-coming events include projects by the Austrian artist Lois Weinberger, who uses the discarded materials of consumer society to make work (see below, the artist in his garden of 'weeds' at Documenta X, in Kassel, 1997), and the Israeli artist Sigalit Landau who, as an active participant in the peace movement, has previously explored issues of territory and homelessness.
For more information about "The Home Series", please contact:
Zoe Shearman or Tom Trevor at: Spacex Gallery, 45 Preston Street, Exeter EX2 4LQ. Tel: 01392 216567 Fax: 01392 213786 e-mail:[email protected]