Interactive sculptures for everyone

Inspired by the essence of movement and how we interact with each other in our urban environment, Scribble is a playful new interactive sculpture project brought to you through Skate Southampton.

Our city is a playground and through scribble, we continue to explore how architectural forms and sculptures can be exhibited to encourage community engagement, promote physical literacy, develop strong connections with culture and improve mental health.

As a follow-up to #reshapingthesquare, John Hansard Gallery provided the opportunity for Rich Holland and Steve Bega to bring this new idea to life.

By exploring how physical forms can be placed in different locations within (any) city we believe we can help to stimulate new conversations and approaches to how we interact with each other and our urban environments.

Treat these forms as mini stages, benches, play pieces… whatever you want them to be is what they are, that’s what brings them to life.

They have been made using weathering steel and are designed for you to play, dance, jump and scribble all over, enjoy!

The Story of Scribble - By Steve Bega

Scribble is an evolution of community lead, public space re-thinking work inspired by SAFESPACESSOTON, CLUBHOUSE, SPACETOCREATE and #RESHAPINGTHESQUARE

It started when I took a ride into Southampton with a roll of black and white film inside a medium format camera to photograph 12 spaces in Southampton (that some may consider unused, neglected, ignored or underwhelming).

After developing the negatives by hand at home, I printed off copies of each location and began scribbling over the top using tracing paper and Posca pens.

I picked 3 colours, and approached it with the idea that one would represent an object or sculpture placed within the space and the others would capture the movement of people interacting with the areas, objects or each other.

The tracing paper allowed any illustration to be placed upon any space, enabling me to create a visual representation of how we might utilise public space and explore the impact of embellishments and added shapes within these spaces.

It’s extremely abstract but was incredibly fun and it sparked an idea of how could this be brought to life.

Scribble has since evolved into a collection of physical sculptures that can be reconfigured in endless ways and exhibited to encourage movement and interaction within public spaces.

This physical iteration has been made possible by the support and funding of John Hansard Gallery and has enabled Rich Holland and I to explore how this could be achieved. As part of this process, we have (and continue) to explore designs and materials that balance the idea of accessibility, modularity, durability, and innovation.

The initial iteration utilises custom-fabricated weathering steel, and the initial exhibition of these objects marks the start of their story, there is much more to come…

Scribble is a metaphor for movement, creativity, and play. So, scribble on them (in whatever way that means to you.)

These are interactive sculptures for EVERYONE, enjoy!

PARTNERS & THANKS

STEVE BEGA & RICH HOLLAND

Creative Design - Engineering - Physical & Digital Asset Development

JOHN HANSARD GALLERY

Funding & Support

WESKATESOTON

Support & Overall Awesomeness

SKATEBOARD GB

General Support & Wisdom to Enable Ideas Like This to Develop

SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL

General Support & Permission to Exhibit These in the City

TOOMERS LTD

Fabrication & Support