WEAVING THE CONNECTION

The city of Portsmouth has a rich history and had layers of interaction and connections between people of various backgrounds during the exchange of the trade at the port . People from different places came with the motive of buying or exchanging the product they desire to have. Though they came from different communities but they had one intention of buying and selling the product which became their connection point and resulted in layers of interaction. It similar to the contrasting layers of interactions happening in the repair café. 

Repair café is made by people for  improving the lifestyle of people and the city. People from different sectors of community gather at repair cafés for free to mend items together resulting in layers of interactions. The repair work involves intertwining of humans and materials that are being repaired and the tools that would be used to repair them. All the interactions are intertwined in some or the other way as they are taking place in the same space . The materials that are repaired often are contrast in nature and still are dealt with the same motive of mending it or repairing it.

This model is a representation of different strata of people living in the city fabric. The model's nails stand in for particular Portsmouth communities' heads and the rubber bands serve as the ties that bind members of that particular community together. Other communities also emerged in a similar way, and they are depicted by various coloured bands. Over time, a shared interest developed between the two communities, forging a connection between them. This connection serves as additional evidence of their distinctions. But they always shared a desire to unite these communities and bridge their differences with an aspect of developing and uplifting the fabric of the city. This aligns with the philosophy of the repair café, which offers opportunities for social interaction and the adoption of sustainable living practices including material reuse, recycling, and repurposing. The people who come here are all driven by the same desire to fix their things and assist one another. The bond grows stronger as the number of participants rises. 

The nails and the colour bands represent different community people coming together at the centre point that is repair café and the movement that is happening represents the layers of interactions between the people and the materials and all other activities that are being caused due to the interactions. 

Smaller the community and the participation of people , less will be the interaction and the working in the café. 

If there is awareness about the working and the benefits of it , more people will  connect to it and more interaction and benefits will happen in the fabric of the city. There should be something that could attract the people towards it and make them aware of it.

WEAVING THE CONNECTION

The repair café is for the people and by the people to improve the working style of the city . It is currently present in cascades shopping centre . It has a huge glass façade which can provide a visual connection to the people who are passing by it . To quote author Jane Bennet "Stuff commands attention on its own and has effects on us."  We often don’t understand the active engagement of non-living elements in the events we are part of. Non-living object have the power to have an influence on us, and everything around us is profoundly interwoven. The repair café doesn’t have a particular fixed site and could be moved with time. Thus it should have an art installation which makes a statement and pull the people towards itself  while remaining cost-effective and light weight so that if the café has to be relocated it will be easier for it to be moved. 

INSTALLATION 1

The city and people have special connection to the beaches . The coral patterns are not only connected to the sea but also have similar patterns that can be seen in fisherman's nets present on the coast . The patterns used in the design of the installation have been adapted from and then interwoven by weaving having essence of activity of sewing and weaving done for repairing the fabrics in the café . The forms of the patterns also represents the model that was created to represent diverse community of people coming together weaved with the connections of one motive of repairing and reusing the products . Material environment can bring out fresh possibilities for the operating style of any place. To investigate material capacities and broaden the set of new possibilities, it is necessary to comprehend the human-nonhuman interaction and reconsider the role of materials in shaping us and the world.

The design is joined by incorporating materials that are collected from various sources and fabrics of different nature are intertwined and created into a structural column in which the old cycle rims are paced between them as supports at certain intervals . These cycle rims extend further more creating compartments in which objects on display are kept. The bottom portion of the display unit is not fixed as it will quiver and wave along with the approach of the building. The whole display unit is hung from the ceiling of the room latter placed on tracks which allows it to move only horizontally which henceforth doesn’t harm the objects on display. 

INSTALLATION 2 

The art installation created is an assemblage of discarded fabrics and warned out nuts stitched in it . Both the materials with are diametrically opposite properties. The nuts are stiff, rigid and requires strength to change its shape and the fabric is soft and easily convertible into any form. It is a sort of mixed media art known as assemblage. This assemblage tells the narrative of an art form hovering between two entirely different materials that come together to form a unique artwork. The fabric is folded in form of a wave , which forms the connection with the sea of the city and the nuts are important part of fixing or joining machines. It has its own expression, which is seen differently by different individuals.  It is fascinating to see how seemingly insignificant items might be transformed into exquisite art forms.

INSTALLATION 3

The art installation has layers made by stitching or gluing different objects between the layers together that could be found in repair café representing the layers of interactions happening there.