park products

Park Products
Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London, UK

A series of collaboratively produced products using resources found in Kensington Gardens to be exchanged in a non-monetary mini-economy during the summer 2004. Böhm and Lang have been artists-in-residence at the Serpentine Gallery and Kensington Gardens for one year, starting during Summer 2003. They have been working with the Royal Park’s rangers and gardeners, groups of park users, and the Serpentine’s gallery assistants to develop designs for products together with students at the Royal College of Art.

A ‘market stall’ – a folding, mobile trading platform designed by the artists – has been sited in various locations in the park during August and September 2004, where the products were on offer and circulated in a non-monetary mini-economy. The exchange was facilitated by various ‘currencies’ – tasks or actions that have been suggested by park staff or other groups – that are given a specific value to be exchanged for a specific product. The structure and the trading system supports a new social space in the park delineated by a network of previously unrelated groups. The products operate as ‘tools of contact’, mediating between the Gallery, the artists and the public.

Prototypes for 10 products have been produced and put into production. A catalogue containing images and information about each product and a text explaining the cultural and social context of the project will be available for sale. To download a pdf vesrion of the catalogue please click the icon below.

Public works recently revisited the project and explored the spaces which were created by park products. The book is titled If you can’t find it, give us a ring and contains an interview with Andreas Land & Kathrin Böhm of public works and an essay by Doina Petrescu, “Working towards a real public space”. Visit http://www.publicworksgroup.net/download/if_you_cant_find_it.pdf to download a pdf version of the artist pages or http://www.ixia-info.com to order a hardcopy of the complete publication

http://www.publicworksgroup.net