{"id":50,"date":"2014-05-28T15:41:28","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T20:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/?p=50"},"modified":"2014-05-30T09:04:36","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T14:04:36","slug":"what-kind-of-flock-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/2014\/05\/28\/what-kind-of-flock-house\/","title":{"rendered":"What kind of Flock house?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"4<\/a><\/p>\n

What Kind of Flock House?<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 9 – 10, 2014, Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts<\/a><\/p>\n

In Omaha\u00a0we will build\u00a0two Flock houses. \u00a0One will be in the vest pocket\u00a0meadow across from the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts.\u00a0\u00a0The second will be at Carver Bank.<\/p>\n

Mary shows slides of existing Flock houses, living structures moving around New York City. Floating structures. A Flock house on a barge.\u00a0We break into groups and begin to Blue Sky, pouring out our visions for the Flock house. Our group tables are right\u00a0next to the very Flock house first built at\u00a0the port of New York. \u00a0Now, part of a growing Flock of houses, it migrated\u00a0to Omaha, to\u00a0a Bemis gallery where much of Mary’s stuff stands\u00a0bundled by twine. \u00a0All her stuff, including her Apple computer, tied\u00a0into a perfectly visible burden of modern life. \u00a0All the stuff we keep and store and move from place to place. \u00a0Mary balled it up and rolled\u00a0it along the sidewalk to a van, and in the van to New York Harbor.<\/p>\n

There is stuff – recycled material that Mary Mattingly and the Bemis staff and residents have located around the building, in the alley and about the city. \u00a0Wood flooring, plastic molded\u00a0lighting, doors – there are many, many doors, and metal panels. \u00a0There is a workshop in the basement at Bemis and a fabrication\/construction space\u00a0across the street. I am excited\u00a0to think we would build a structure, a Flock house, from recycled materials. \u00a0Stuff discovered\u00a0piled here and there, awaiting a second life.<\/p>\n

Flock houses, what are they?<\/p>\n

They are\u00a0self-sustaining. \u00a0They are\u00a0portable,\u00a0easy to break down and move to a new site. Not too heavy. Not boxy, but more organic in design. They\u00a0should open up, be adjustable and connected to the outside. Planters and plants.\u00a0They\u00a0should catch rain and hold it \u00a0to water plants. \u00a0They need toilet facilities and waste treatment. \u00a0Energy from wind and sun. As we speak I am trying to imagine urban agriculture, urban cabins, urban exposed\u00a0plumbing and energy generation. \u00a0A world part hippie, part Steam Punk, part technical genius. \u00a0An infrastructure supporting creative thinking and problem solving, art making, and generative community.\u00a0An image by Janice Jong of Thekla\u00a0jumps to\u00a0mind \u00a0.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Thekla<\/a> Thekla –\u00a0\u00a0Invisible Cities<\/em> by Italo Calvino<\/p>\n

“What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city? Where is the plan you are following, the blueprint?”<\/p>\n

“We will show it to you as soon as the working day is over; we cannot interrupt our work now,” they answer.<\/p>\n

Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the building site. The sky is filled with stars. “There is the blueprint,” they say.<\/p>\n

At 3 am, Mary, sleepless, began\u00a0making a\u00a0model of a blue triangular structure. \u00a0Inspired. Reflecting triangles that kept surfacing in our first envisioning. \u00a0We see it and affirm, ours\u00a0will be triangular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Kind of Flock House? May 9 – 10, 2014, Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts In Omaha\u00a0we will build\u00a0two Flock houses. \u00a0One will be in the vest pocket\u00a0meadow across from the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts.\u00a0\u00a0The second will be at Carver Bank. Mary shows slides of existing Flock houses, living structures moving around New York […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-opening-the-process","post_format-post-format-quote"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27IaX-O","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harveststudioonline.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}