#alternative guide

[strange-destinations]

This is genius. Horrible, twisted genius but genius nonetheless.

[applesandtumbledryers-blog]

Bodys Isek Kingelez is a self-taught a Congolese artist who creates vast public buildings out of cardboard boxes and scrap paper. Kingelez defines himself as a maquettiste, a model maker; indeed, his works have the precision of an architectural model. However, they are brightly coloured and oddly shaped. Recognisable fragments of household waste turn up in unexpected places - like the teabags in International Sports. Even as small scale models, Kingelez’ constructions appear towering - as if they had thousands of floors. With names like Aereoport Moderne, Soviet Mongolia, International Sports they are clearly intended as public buildings. And as public buildings on a weekend, they are completely deserted. Even though their plans provide for interaction at street-level, there is no pedestrian crossing the carefully delineated plazas in U.N., or looking out from the diapositive-shaped windows in Papillon de Mer. Despite all the colour, there is something hostile in the way the interior/exterior boundaries are marked here. These buildings are different to what we are used to not only because they are coloured and crafty, but also because they are on a different scale than the humans who should inhabit them, and because they make no allowance for the unavoidable changes which pedestrians and inhabitants would bring.

Could Kingelez's fantasy world be a denunciation of larger-than-life architectural commissions and not only a day-dream?

(These and other works are on show at An Alternative Guide to the Universe, Hayward Gallery, until the 26th of August) 

[dawdlers]