The Crystal Chain: habit/refuge
2020 Paper, inkjet print, watercolour, thread, mannequins Dimensions variable
The Crystal Chain: habit/refuge is figured as a tent/dress wearable shelter in paper and fabric for multiple inhabitants/wearers in a human-scale model of the Mont Blanc alpine range, contemporary alpine huts and refuges are imagined as dwellings for those becoming refugees in a changing climate. This wearable set of paper dresses require a group cooperation to assemble as a mountain range.
In 1919-1920, after being deeply affected by the misery of the First World War, Bruno Taut began The Crystal Chain Letters as a correspondence between a small group of artists and architects whose aim was to discuss and imagine how the future might be shaped through ‘paper architecture’; speculative works that were not intended to be built.