Origination of Office of Experiments

Office of Experiments was conceived following a few projects that ran simultaneously. However, the key impetus happened during the project Space on Earth Station. The overall project was developed with N55,  a social collective of architects and artists based in Copenhagen. Our aim was to create a system for experimenting on earth with ideas of conservation, ecology and urban living, whilst considering how such an inquiry might be made manifest whilst minimising the overall impact on the environment. In order to develop the project, Neal White established an office for experiments as a within Arts Catalyst own administrative space. Arts Catalyst, was the commissioning body, and the office of experiments later moved onto the space station itself as a laboratory of ideas and experiments in ecology and living.

The context for this project was President Bush aim to spend billions of dollars on a mission to Mars, highlighted by the image in the background taken from a Mars Rover. In what we understood to be as a signal that the earth was doomed, we worked together to create an alternative vision for the future. A form of ethical experimentation, as Isabelle Stengers would put it. The project took two years to conceive and build, and was installed for 6 days. It has only ever been shown once to date.

Space on Earth Station

The Space Station, on earth, had four modular units. One was a laboratory, that became an office for experiments, the second a kitchen, the third sleeping quarters and the fourth, a chill out zone. Toilet and bathing facilities were external to these units due to planning permissions on site. In many respects, the project was an analogue of the Mars Missions, and had at its core, the spirit of the Whole Earth Catalogue, and other social and environmental movements that undertook experiments in living through ideas of circularity and sustainability. Our experiments included human and other cohabitants with modules also developed for other organisms, birds , bees, plants, with activity such as growing and gathering foods, cooking with thermal ovens, and recycling bikes and other waste into systems for transport, cleaning etc.

Experimental structures

The truncated octahedron that was the building block of the module for the project was based on an N55 design. Led by Ingvil Aarbakke and Ion Sørvin, N55 experimental architectural projects, and specifically their micro -dwelling, were based on Peter Pearce vision for a ‘minimum inventory/maximum diversity system of building. Pearce’s proposed forms as modular building block, a full-scale plate structure could be reconfigured – making a perfect solution for the experiment. Working together, the structure of the space on earth station was conceived as a platform using this modular form, but we decided it should be built from different materials in different countries. Three modules were built in Copenhagen (ship steel) and one in London ( marine plywood). All were designed to fit onto standard EU pallet sizes to minimise cost and weight. The modules were assembled in situ on site in Camden in September 2016 where they were later extened, with units for Bees, and Birds. A satellite skip based module was occupied by Kayle Brandon.

On site experiments

Following a call for experiments on the Space Station, a group of artists were selected to work with us on site. Despite our efforts, no scientists made applications to work in the artist platform we offered.

Marcus Ahlers (Berlin) created Solar Ovens for cooking, Kayle Brandon (Bristol, UK) created her own skip module, whilst gathering food from wild local sources, and Alex Lockett (London, UK) built a sustainable garden on top of the station itself. Further experiments included bird house modules made from estate agent signs and a bee-hive module by Neal White, as well as hive networks built by Alexei Blinov and James Stevens. Hacked bicycles, water cooler bottles repurposed as washing machines by Ion Sorvin and his team of ship and submarine builders from Copenhagen.

Over several days, large groups coalesced, hung out and tested the facilities whilst visiting the exhibition at Camden Roundhouse.

The project is dedicated to the memory of the brilliant, inspiring Ingvil Aarrbakke of N55.