FILM : #SMP_Gather | Interactive Installation at LDF 2014
26 September 2014
The film made with participants' images of our interactive installation, 'GATHER'. Watch how the straw and high visibility geometric structures evolved over the course of the London Design Festival 2014.
From September 16-21, 2014, we presented an interactive installation at our space in the heart of the Shoreditch Design Triangle. We invited visitors to make and collaborate, using cut straws of wheat and lengths of yarn to create geometric structures.
Our inspiration was the Scandinavian harvest tradition of Himmeli, a centuries-old ritual that brought people together in the design and making of intricate decorations to hang in the home; these acted as a token or charm to ensure prosperity and an abundant harvest in the coming year.
GATHER brought these ancient practices together with modern innovation, using a specially-formed, high-visibility yarn to connect the wheat straws. This yarn produces waves of brilliant light when photographed with a camera flash, making the act of documentation part of the work itself.
The structures created for GATHER hung in the space over the course of the week, gradually building a system of connected shapes and forms. The installation was documented with photographs taken by participants and shared with us using the hashtag '#SMP_Gather', which then went into the creation of this film.
