Building Fun
Following on from the Gallery Hack Camp at The Public back in February, I’ve been working with fellow attendees Rachel Sutton, Dave Checkley, Kim Wall and Garry Bulmer on a commission to build a Mobile Fun Factory to inhabit The Public’s atrium space over the summer.
Our brief was mostly centred around this steel frame that’s just a leeeetle bit smaller than the goods lift:
We’ve been tasked with turning it into a Mobile Fun Factory: a structure that can rove around the atrium space of the arts centre and be used to display the products of the summer workshops, as well as being a playful thing in its own right.
First step: a ginormous brainstorm to figure out what a Mobile Fun Factory might be…
Second step: breaking out the cardboard and gaffa tape!
We’ve moved on a bit since that first cardboard maquette built in March. For a bunch of people who, for the most part, had barely even met before, it’s turned out to be a formidable team. I’m also in the role of project manager, so it’s my job to keep an eye on these things, and my considered opinion is that these guys have some truly formidable making skills. HIRE THEM!
As we slowly get closer to completion, here are a few images from the build process so far…
An early sketch. The final Fun Factory won’t be entirely dissimilar to this…
Fettling new plates for the new castors
Yellow is the colour of Fun
Possibly the sexiest assemblage of soil pipe ever.
Seekrit bunker
Testing the camera feed
Periscope simulator
The Secret Cinema starts to take shape…
We’re pretty much onto the final assemblage of component parts now, so hopefully the Mobile Fun Factory should be mobile and fun soon.
