The Third Space

source: swissnexsanfranciscoorg

Now that Burning Man has shrunk back into dusty nothingness, now that the team is back to the real world and has washed away all the sand, it is time to collect and share impressions from artists Alexander Deubl, Alexander Rehn, and Bianca Keck about The Third Space and how Burners interacted with it.

The Third Space is a triangular spider web of 250,000 zip ties clutching a wooden skeleton. It’s a walk-in and even a sit-on interactive piece. The initial idea of creating a seating area out of zip ties came from Alexander Rehn back in 2009 when he was studying interior design together with Alexander Deubl and Bianca Keck at the Academy of Arts in Munich in a class taught by Swiss professors and designers, Carmen and Urs Greutmann. Fifty-two students worked on it for 16,870 hours until the final Third Space was created.

When we asked them how people at Burning Man reacted to the piece, Keck and Deubl both uttered the same recollection: “They were amazed.” Why? First, because of the unexpected use of zip ties. Zip ties were a part of many Burning Man installations, but they were often used as tools to hold structures together, not as unique building materials themselves. Second, because of the silence. In this world of (loud) sounds, The Third Space differentiated itself by being a noiseless and harmonious place. “It was like a oasis,” said Deubl, remembering how people came to relax and rest. In fact, a Burning Man culture blog named The Third Space the “Best Art of Burning Man 2012.”

Bringing the piece to the desert was a success for sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was hard to maintain out on the playa. The team had to repair it constantly, and it took an hour each day to clean the dust from broken pieces. Humans and zip ties suffered from the dust and heat, but when all was said and done, the whole team agreed that it was a fruitful experience. And would they do it again? Of course!
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source: burnersme

So let’s see what kind of controversy, if any, we create with this call. The best piece of art on the Playa this year, the one that inspired and touched me and still does, was the one our camp called “The Zip Tie Thing”. It’s actually called The Third Space, brought to Burning Man by swissnex. Thanks to Toburn for doing the Burners.Me investigative journalism for this. It took 52 people 16,870 hours to create this from 250,000 zip ties. They had 14 people on the Playa for 15 days, and it took 6 days of 12-hour days to get the installation finished.

The Third Space (or Der Dritte Raum in German) is a triangular spider web of 250,000 zip ties clutched over a wooden skeleton. Enter and discover a lounge including lit seating balls and hanging cocoons that invite visitors to lie down and relax and take in the futuristic environment around them. The wind blowing through the zip ties is the only sound and carries all cares away. The material offers an astoundingly sensuous quality and great flexibility, so that the visitor is dipped into an abstract landscape. The Third Space is a place to relax and to come home to surroundings that are otherworldly and shaped by its own lighted beauty.

The idea for The Third Space came out of a course in Interior Architecture taught by Swiss designers Carmen and Urs Greutmann-Bolzern at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. The project explores mesh and pattern and deals with sociological issues such as profiling, community, and privacy as translated into different spatial situations. It was further developed by Greutmann-Bolzern student and current assistant, Alexander Rehn, and built by 52 other students working for 16,870 hours with their own hands.

swissnex San Francisco showed the Greutman-Bolzern exhibition Bubble Ballet in December 2011 and shortly thereafter began discussions to bring The Third Space to Burning Man. After showcases in Munich Paninotheka, Germany, Designer Saturday in Langenthal, Switzerland, and Luminaire Lab Design at Design Miami, The Third Space travels to Burning Man. With the help of swissnex, Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, and the designers in Germany and Switzerland, an application was submitted to Burning Man in early 2012 and the project selected and supported as an official 2012 Honorarium Art Installation.

Carmen Greutmann–Bolzern and Urs Greutmann opened their practice, Design Studio Greutmann Bolzern, in 1984 in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2003, Carmen and Urs have taught at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Germany. During a course they were teaching, student Alexander Rehn built a hanging zip tie cocoon and The Third Space was born. After working for Greutmann-Bolzern from 2010 to 2012 in Zurich, Alexander is now their assistant at the Academy of Arts in Munich and runs his own design studio. He travels to Burning Man with fellow designers Bianca Keck und Alexander Deubl.