Archi.ru: Your "Nests of Light" differ from the rest of the things of the current Archstoyanie by the complete absence of even a hint of a traditional form - this is anything but a shed. How did you get so far off topic?
Arseny Leonovich: Not so far - bird nests are nothing more than sheds made of branches … But our project really lived a personal life. Initially, Anton (Anton Kochurkin, curator of the festival - Archi.ru) had a subtle, complex idea of "Elementary Particles", which we were asked to think about. We made 3-4 options - including one extremely elementary one: to dig something like a dugout, where the amount of excavated soil is equal to the amount of soil poured. I wanted to come up with minimal implementations and costs, so that, apart from people and shovels, nothing was needed. Among the options was a very artistic one - some monads, dots, capsules on trees. The age-old theme of mixing two contexts, when something man-made, designer, otherworldly suddenly sprouts in the forest of the Russian central zone. Moreover, it shines … The idea sunk into everyone's soul, and in the end survived when Archstoyanie changed its concept - it happened when several hundred works were submitted to an optional shed competition, and this topic supplanted all the others. So Nikita and I had to prove after the fact why our object is a barn.
And why?
Because a "barn" in Eastern culture is a palace of a royal family. It is in the Russian dialect it has declined, turned inside out, became an unprepossessing farm building. Sometimes the bird buildings seem to us to be a barn, carelessly arranged from improvised material, but in fact they are the palaces of a people unfamiliar to us. Not a bird lives in our nest, but light … In general, we have developed the theme of the barn to infinity.
You've probably watched how people perceive your object. How did the audience react?
The people generally reacted sincerely: "Great, interesting, cozy." They remembered everything - the film "Avatar", and the Chinese holiday with lanterns, and a flock of fireflies, and mushrooms … Once I saw a man come and said: "Oh, it is clear how this is done." Perhaps he liked it, but it was more important to figure out how it works … The result is an atmosphere of almost interior character, created in the forest. Hanging at a comfortable distance for a person from the ground, the "nests" have created habitats, identified several groups. The marking of the space (this term was often sounded at the festival) occurred on "one-two" - this glade seemed to have never existed before, it lay to the side of the path. Having lit up, she became an object of attraction. People were drawn into the light, where they were promised a fairy tale. They just walked into the light, spread out their Indian rugs, lay down and lay under the glowing balls. It is important to create a subtle moment of attraction at the level of feelings, often poorly described in words.
What are your nests made of?
A collar is put on the vertical (in our case, a tree trunk) with the possibility of attaching lamellas to it. Initially, a computer model was made so that LEDs could be attached to the inner surface of the lamellas. Thus, an inner sphere and an outer contour were obtained, which did not coincide with it at all. It was all inexpensive - you are always looking for the right idea that balances on the verge of a permissible budget and maximum "exhaust". The first time we did it in a simple way: from thick plywood treated with three layers of tikkurila (it should keep it dry).
What does it mean - for the first time? Will there be a second one?
Many people liked the image so much (as is often the case with ideas lying on the surface) that now there are talks about where to apply its modifications. "Nests" can appear not only in the forest, but also in the city - on pipes or lampposts. Why not? We are now discussing ideas for Moscow Design Week. There are many places where you can use your brains at the intersection of art, architecture and design. I wouldn't usurp the authorship, there have been hanging gizmos in the history of design that glowed. It was just that this time they were “shot” so, to the place and to the time.
