U.C. BOX Project

La Box / Bourges, 1998 - Société / Brussels, 2017 - China Academy of Art / Hanghzou, 2018

Mark1

3D prints (stereolithography), various materials

U.C.BOX.PROJECT begins with data collected from the public using postcards that are filled in and returned to the artist. These cards are either sent by mail or handed out to people in urban environments (supermarkets, shopping centres).

Participants are invited to fill in the 15 fields at the back of the postcards which allow defining a space, being it imaginary or real (for example: surface, proportions, level, colour, materials etc.). Once they have filled in the card, participants are invited to either mail their contribution to the artist or drop them off in the letterboxes provided.

U.C.BOX.PROJECT is based on the creation of a database by the public. This database will come to represent a both individual and collective identity expressed by the description of spaces, places or volumes and shapes. The information gathered will be used as raw material and transformed into systematic data. The artist will then transform each set of data into a drawing, then into a scale model using 3D drafting software and 3D printing. These processes lead to the construction of a utopian architectural sculpture: a collective construction bringing together and confronting each individual’s space as they initially described it.

U.C.BOX.PROJECT therefore questions how spaces are designed for individuals today within collective societies and explores the often pre-established models present in each culture.

This project was developed during a residency in Bourges in 1998 and was then extended by a workshop at the China Academy of Art in Hanghzou in 2018.