C.R.A.S.H contigency © Lab of ii
In the summer of 2009, during the Two degree festival, a series of art events and installation urgently concerned with climate change and involving the public, the artist Richard Dedomenici landed a fake-aircraft in the courtyard of the Arts Admin studios.
After boarding in the Plane food cafe, passengers were encouraged to quickly eat a blend veggie curry - straight from London City airport -, while gazing at a movie showing pigeons being accidently smashed by aircrafts. Not so tasty but as fast and effective as flying and eating can be.
C.R.A.S.H contigency © Lab of ii
In the evening the Laboratory of insurrectionary imagination invited its viewers to self-conduct a radical happening in the middle of the City.
After voting a set of actions by consensus-making, in the spirit of Reclaim the streets and the Climate Camps, they headed towards Square miles equipped with wheelbarrows and plants donated by local permaculture growers.
In the middle of Spitafield market, an area recently turned into a Business mecca with CCTV 24 hours surveillance, our crew somehow devised to set up a temporary camp with fully functioning kitchen.
When the police finally came, the initial passive aggressive imperative to evacuate turned into a more friendly chit-chat around some freshly brewed elderflower tea, and as they left gifted with individual potted plants, it seems as if even them had joined in the party.
Energy cafe, Gunpowder park 2009 © Pilot Publishing
Later that summer, we also went to build a stage in the wild with Pilot Publishing. Their Energy Cafe was more than a resource on renewable energy and sustainability which transformed Gunpowder Park into a Temporary Autonomous Zone.
The landscape was reclaimed as common space as locals were invited to forage plants from the surrounding wilderness : anyone who joined could cook by the fire and eat under the stars by the sound of music.
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