detail of ‘space nrgzer #4 soft benches’

the work of urban artist veronika tzekova focuses on shifting the appearance, meaning, or function of what she considers ‘ill’ elements of the cities where she has lived. these interventions include hacking industrial design, anti-monuments, living statues, systematic pothole gardening, street art, graffiti, and finding new uses for environments that lack any direction of their own.

‘space nrgzer #4 soft benches’ 2010 is an installation of strings attached to public benches in biella, italy. conceived after an encounter with awkwardly placed benches on a street that had originally faced the facades of shop windows but now only look at the displays of ‘for rent’ signs. located in a region that once served as the center for the italian textile industry, tzekova took locally produced yarn and extended the shape of the benches connecting them with strands of yellow.

‘the resulting soft benches are like vivacious yellow rays of light and yet are not usable urban furniture. the use of the locally produced wool thread memorializes the social aspect of the economic decline of the textile industry in the region, as it is no longer something upon which the local population is able to rely or lean on.’

veronika tzekova: space nrgzers

‘dadissuasori’ 2010, la pigna, san remo, italy, takes its name from the italian word for bollards dissuasori and dice dadi. the stone traffic markers were randomly displaced at the moment of the intervention providing themselves as a canvas for stenciling.

’employing their shape and positioning, I turned them into huge dice thrown on the small square as a monument to the shifting fortune in the competition between planned urban environments and the personalized appropriation of space. strangely, a functionary of the church found it blasphemous and painted over only the dots, making them even more sad and ugly.”

veronika tzekova: space nrgzers after the intervention

veronika tzekova: space nrgzers before the intervention

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication we have already acquired many submissions, so keep on the lookout for more of your projects to be published in the coming days!