The Urban Nomad Shelter is both a humanitarian act and a social provocation. It is a cushion from the ground that also serves as a census taker for an itinerant population that is hard to count and even harder to countenance.
It uses a self-conscious design aesthetic (think Ikea or Target) to re-brand the homeless and re-map urban real estate. The neon-colored cocoons work like soft pushpins on a city plan, making it impossible not to notice the homeless and not to see them as human.
The larva-like shelter subtly makes the point that this is transitional housing - so transitional that it doesn't allow for any kind of personalization. These walls would collapse if you tried to pin anything on them.
The homeless have obviously been forgotten as most of us are content with pushing them aside, ignoring their existence. We often fight with ourselves not to read their cardboard signs as we sit at the stoplight in our cars. We avoid eye contact and we perceive them as failures of society. We totally remove their civil and human right and thus they become nonexistent and invisible. I've seen these cocoons spread out for a photo shoot in downtown Los Angeles by the gorgeous Disney Concert Hall and I must say, perhaps the idea of vividly displaying the homeless will jolt us into seeing just how many homeless there are. The juxtaposition of homeless scattered alongside an area known for culture and class is surreal. After all, how many bright colored cocoons would show up in your city if every homeless person had one? Would it make an epidemic problem more visible, and perhaps inspire people to take a stand and finally do something?
thanks to fucking god, you're back. i was getting worried.