Prototipos para estructuras callejeras informales
(Prototypes for informal street structures)
Begun 2004, now in late development stage
Series 666666 Tianguis Transnacional (2nd Hexagonal
Investigation), Begun 2004
Standard steel tubing, aluminum & alloy cast joints
Joints ( 1 x 1 x 1 in each), tubing and overall strucutures
(dimensions variable)
Unlimited edition
PL CAT#: 04.xx.667.3000.25.325
666666 TT Joint prototypes in different forms of assembly
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| Examples of street stand structures in Mexico City |
666666 TT dolley and assembled structure corner example |
This project consists of the design, elaboration, and production of a new kind of
joint for the easier, quicker, and more compact assembly of street stand structures.
These structures mostly belong to the history and contemporary practice of informal
trade, broadly known as Tianguis throughout Mexico and the Mexican immigrant
population of the U.S. The design and production process of these joints
is inseparable from a chain of social exchanges and ongoing conversations with:
1) informal tradespeople and any other users of these stands; 2) industrial designers
and mechanical engineers; 3) intellectuals and activists who engage with the topic
of globalization and informal economies.
These joints could solve very real problems for informal tradespeople who transport,
assemble, and disassemble such structures on an everyday basis. As a formal
construction and aesthetic manifestation, the joints will also allow for the
exploration and development of contemporary network theory, stressing the
understanding of nodes and rhyzomatic structures.
The implications of an improved street stand joint are less evident in the U.S.,
where informal trade is strictly regulated and pushed back to the least visible areas
of the social fabric. The omnipresence of these stands in Third World countries such
as Mexico, however, is unquestiobable. About 50% of the Mexican economy
consists of informal trade, taking the form of entire metallic cities that are assembled
every morning and disassembled every evening. About 20% of Mexico City’s 22
millions inhabitants purchase the majority of their goods and services at such
make-shift markets.
Future work after the completion of the prototype joint and stand stage of the
project will include the mass production of these joints for their use in street
markets, publications related to the project, as well as exhibitions and social
exchanges in conventional art contexts