27 STEPS
| INSTALLATION | SAN FRANCISCO, CA |
27 steps began as a design for the Nelson Mandela memorial. It later resurrected as a traveling pavilion upon being selected as one of the exhibits at the San Francisco Market Street Prototyping Festival (2016). It consists of one single gesture of taking 27 steps through the piece to commemorate Mandela's 27 years in prison at Robben Island. The two pieces form a center void in the shape of an inverted pyramid --Mandela's journey in carving for peace by inverting the political system. Market Street has always been the venue to voice, to protest, to celebrate, to walk for peace. The Market Street fair offers such a opportunity again, not for a protest, but for a walk for peace in a celebratory environment.
PURPLE RAIN
During a peaceful non-apartheid protest in South Africa, just months before Nelson Mandela was released from prison, the police force were determined to arrest anyone who was a part of the protest by tagging them with purple water. The protesters showed resistance by turning the purple water back toward authority and soon after, purple became the sign of resistance.
urban metrics
Motion-sensor-activated LED lights and counter begin to help us understand the patterns and density of Market Street. These counts were also linked to an online database that allowed us and others to track the data in real-time. We would like to further push this concept of using art as an urban metric for any city and add a level of interaction to the streets.
TEAM
For this project, we contacted a number of individuals with varying talents, including architects, sound composer, videographer, fabricators, lighting designer, technologies, interactive designer, and fundraiser.
