All Images © 2024 Choi+Shine Architects
The Urchins
Manifesta Biennial
Barcelona, Spain
Sant Adriá de Besòs
September-November 2024
All Images © 2024 Choi+Shine Architects unless otherwise specified.
Design
Jin Choi and Thomas Shine
Structural Design
Thomas Shine
Frame fabrication
Anton Der Kinderen
Thomas Shine
Edward Shine
Marcel Górlikowski
Noah Tanis
Installation
Marc Sala Audet
Manifesta staff and volunteers
Special thanks to:
Hedwig Fijen
Filipa Oliveira
Tatiana Tarragó
Núria Marquès
Georgina Surià Gúdel
Maria Elisa
Bernat Bastardas
lace symbolically weaves different people and cultures. Through community involvement, the work enables participants to share the ownership, a sense of achievement and a collective memory of making.
Lace is usually small in scale, and often private. Shown in a large scale in a public place, the lace creates a sense of surprise which contributes to our collective memory.
During the day, the crocheted surface of the Urchins reflects, absorbs and transmits sunlight. In the morning or late afternoon sun, the Urchins appear as a glowing, translucent object.
During the full day sun, the lightweight and yet huge lace urchins cast intricate, patterned shadows, creating both a pleasant visual experience while providing a small shelter from the hot sun.
The work is designed to interact with natural elements: light, shadow, wind and water. Light and shadow are a critical part of the artwork, adding an ethereal dimension to the work.
Audience also interacts with the work; lace creates windows to filter the existing surroundings and rediscover the beauty around us.
Reflections obscure or distort the boundaries, challenging the realm of reality and perception.
People are the center of the artwork. The work creates a space within to invite the audience to occupy and touch, while staging people as an integral element of artwork.
It is a spatial experience, a tactile expression.
Every part of the work is touched by hands many times during the process; the embodiment of the collective endeavours to unveil the future.
The physical openings in the lace surface create patterns of light against dark, a juxtaposition of a permeable surface on different visual layers.
The porous lace membranes form windows through which we re- discover the heritage from the past and honour those who struggled to build it; through which we discover the power of the place that has been healing for the last decades; through which we picture our future together.
The design and images of The Urchins are copyright 2016 - 2024 Choi+Shine Architects and may not be used without written permission.
