ds2 (2018-19) — Social Art Library

By

Studio Polpo

Two performers wearing white overalls walk past a large red garage door. One performer carries a yellow flag, the other wears a green tabard and pushes a wheelbarrow. Photo credit: Studio Polpo.

‘ds2 is a mobile structure for activities yet to be imagined’

ds2 was a collaborative project centred around the design, production, use, and touring of an open-source, adaptable, mobile kit of parts, called ds2. ds2 acted as both a physical and conceptual framework for a number of activities of exchange, making, and performance which explored ideas of commoning, air pollution and the climate emergency.

ds2 continued the shared work of Studio Polpo and the Drawing Shed on the creation of frameworks to be adapted and used by others, and an interest in making tools that allow the empowerment of marginalised groups through art and spatial practice. 10 years since the original Drawings Shed, ds2 set out to create a new, more agile, and open structure for engaging with the public, which can travel with relative ease across geographical areas, and build connections between disparate groups.

The ds2 kit was designed by Studio Polpo as an intuitive, ‘open-source’, kit of parts to create both playful and functional structures which encourage adaptation, addition, and hacking as it is used and passed on to future users. The production of the kit is designed to be accessible and replicable, for use by socially engaged practitioners, community groups and individuals. It employs a range of ubiquitous and intuitive materials and components such as bolts, wingnuts and plywood. The cutting templates and instructions are free-to-use, and can be simply pre-cut and reproduced by a CNC machine, and assembled with a rubber mallet and screws.

The project was based out of Tinsley, an area in Sheffield with particular issues around air quality, poor health and low aspiration and opportunities. The area is also home to both the Tinsley Canal and River Don and a wealth of little-used but important natural resources, rich plant and animal life, and ‘brownfield’ natural environments. From Tinsley Tingas, a former school transformed into a community space by Studio Polpo alongside Sheffield City Council and Groundwork South Yorkshire, a number of ds2 workshops and activities took place through, which formed connections and made use of these latent, under-used skills and resources of Tinsley. ds2 served and responded this multitude of activities which were slow, meandering, tangential, messy, focused, formalised or productive. A zine was made to document these activities and unforeseen ways in which the DS2 was used.

ACTIVITIES:

ds2 began with a series of actions, engaging with the qualities of Tinsley and the Tinsley canal and the intermingling of natural and manmade infrastructures and ecologies. Sally Labern led a workshop part of the Social Art Summit (2018), Sheffield, walking along the Tinsley Canal from Tinsley Tingas to Access Space, walking, talking, collecting found objects and natural specimens, which we shared with others on arrival at the Summit. In January 2019 The ds2 roamed the streets of Tinsley, collecting artefacts and printing from found objects, such as drain and manhole covers.

A local group of women designed and produced bags for the ds2 kit at Tinsley Tingas, and established a regular printing, sewing and drawing group which was continued by artist Rose Smith.

ds2 came to Tinsley Meadows school, where we made Tinsley block prints and played with moss, studying it under a microscope and how we can use it to clean the air we breathe.

The ds2 was transformed into a caddy and travelled on the train from Sheffield to the Social Art Assembly (2019) at the Tate Modern, where Sally Labern and James Harrington held a discuss & exchange workshop about the project.

‘AirWalk: Tinsley to Abbeydale’ was a folk/scientific procession across the city of Sheffield, to raise awareness of air pollution and environmental justice through performative responses to live readings along the walk. The first leg of a walk began at the Tinsley Tingas, and traversed the city to the Abbeydale Picture House.. Following the walk we held an event in partnership with the Social Art Network Sheffield discussing our findings and creations along the walk at the, alongside artists Ian Nesbitt and Ruth Levene.

Following the initial programme of the project the majority of the kit ds2 relocated to London E17 where the kit is continuing to be used by the Drawing Shed. Working prototypes of ds2 went to the Foodhall Project, Sheffield where they are used in conjunction with other modular structures built by the Foodhall community. The remaining ds2 parts remained in Sheffield with Studio Polpo, and have been borrowed for ‘projector bombing’ around the city.

Alongside Sophie Chapman and Kerri Jefferis, Studio Polpo used the ds2 to explore social architecture with the community of Beeston, Leeds, creating a mobile cinema, go-carts and sculptures.

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In light of the coronavirus pandemic, conversations around ds2 and modular, adaptable structures were renewed - how their design, use and aesthetic relates to mutual aid, and their evolving and often unintended forms and uses in times of emergency, and repurposing again for leisure and fun. Studio Polpo have had informal discussions with Sally Labern about using ds2 for installing public washbasins in London E17, and with Louis Pohl about the Foodhall Project’s plans to develop new modular structures for flexible their developing community spaces.

Studio Polpo will be documenting and illustrating these conversations with Louis Pohl of the Foodhall Project and the National Food Service, as part of the Social Art Library Ambassador programme, 2020. A link to this project will follow soon.

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Downloadable resources from ds2, including zines, templates, 3D models and cutting files can be found here.

The ds2 Visual Report can be found here: https://issuu.com/studiopolpo

PROJECT TEAM:

Sally Barker / Artist, The Drawing Shed

James Harrington / Studio Polpo

Ruth Johnson / SCC Community Worker

Sally Labern / Artist, The Drawing Shed

Mark Parsons / Studio Polpo

Rose Smith / Graduate Artist

Mary Wadeson / Seamstress & Maker

Jack Weller / Graduate Artist

SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS:

Abbeydale Picture House

Sheffield City Council

Social Art Network

Tinsley Tingas

The Drawing Shed

DS2 MANUFACTURE:

Chopshop CNC

More information: http://www.studiopolpo.com/#the-drawing-shed

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Studio Polpo

Studio Polpo is a social enterprise arts, architecture and research organisation based in Sheffield. We work primarily with artists and the third sector to both initiate and collaborate on projects, often with a focus on giving new agency & tools to those involved. Much of our work is interdisciplinary and involves scientists, community organisations and other arts practitioners – we are excited by the dialogues between disciplines and learning generated by new encounters.

Our work is often playful, open and exploratory in nature, making visible processes and networks involved and sharing our outcomes to ensure that ideas spread, change and grow. We make and build, as well as research and publish.

http://www.studiopolpo.com