“Torboschron” (“Bag Shelter”) - 2018
It is another object from a series of such shelters/refuges. My intention was to juxtapose a public place — full of people and legal constraints — with the possibility of hiding in a clever and surprising way. Hiding in a lying position, because assuming such a position in the city is the hardest and immediately attracts awkward attention. I thought of a train station full of travelers and their accompanying luggage. The natural sight is piles of suitcases, bags, and backpacks, arranged more or less chaotically in waiting areas. I imagined people hidden among them, able to rest freely without exposing themselves to the gaze of others.
There is also another side to the project and its possible uses. The bag-human is a symbol of a highly objectified, migrating citizen of a restless world. A sad metaphor, yet perhaps a genuinely subversive method — either as a way for people to hide who are on the move out of necessity rather than choice, or as a way to conceal them from the eyes of ordinary travelers, because they are considered unaesthetic, not fitting into the daily rhythm of a Western city. The very use of a traditional soft travel bag carries a certain stigma. It’s the poverty-trip of the lower class, as opposed to the branded tourist backpack or the elite, status-defining wheeled cabin suitcase.