[Re]purposed, a Pop-Up Installation

Much Ado About [Every]thing

Last year’s cardboard castle was a valiant effort, but ultimately ruined by a rain shower. So this year, we wanted a structure that could withstand some weather. But again finding ourselves with limited resources, we had to get creative. Generously, our friends at Stenz offered up some materials from a recent demo. Tack on a budget of 100 bucks for hardware and a couple of dumpster dives? We could work with that.

So, it was off to the races. Our weekly Design Review meetings turned into dedicated art installation brainstorms. We converged, we diverged, we repeated. Countless iterations were discussed and sketched, and pointed questions were asked along the way. How can we create minimal waste? What can we use that’s free? And most importantly: what happens if it rains again? 

Ultimately, we came up with a structure framed with 2×4’s that was supported by vertical posts and conduit. Our neighbors at North Mass Boulder were hosting their second annual “North Massive” climbing competition, which was the perfect crowd draw at our previous install. As a nod to the event and to provide visual interest, we decided to wrap the frame in donated fabric that had been trimmed to mimic their logo.