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.'

'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.''



after the intervention



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!