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A-Z Pocket Property combines your three most important possessions;
your plot of land, your home and your vehicle into a hybrid
prototype product. It is designed as a place with a unique
potential for security, autonomy and independence. As our
world is increasingly opened up by convenient and affordable
travel and communication breakthroughs, it is not surprising
that the most human reaction is to try to shrink it back
down into manageable proportions…"to go live
on a deserted island," so to speak. In this case the
ultimate luxury is not a limitless palette, but a small,
intimate universe in which to explore the parameters of
one's own personal options
This
54-ton floating concrete island is actually a hollow container
for a comfortable fully equipped home. There is a doorway
at either end of the dwelling which access sheltered patios,
and pathway winds up the hill at the center of the island
to a sun deck/observation post. Several landscaped areas
dot the island, containing plants, vines and even trees.
It took two years to build the A-Z Pocket Property in Scandinavia.When
it was finished in summer of 2000 it functioned as both
own experimental living station for Andrea Zittel and a
group of friends who took part in a documentary film about
life on the island which was created by Joachim Haumu in
collaboration with Andrea Zittel.
The A-Z Pocket Property was in part a result of a true desire
to create my own personal “intimate universe”.
But it is also a dark humored commentary on the way in which
our culture constructs and then capitalizes on a human desire
for freedom, autonomy, and isolation. Living in American
suburbs makes one aware of how land is "packaged"
as a consumable product and sold off like products on a
supermarket shelf. Likewise, in some futuristic manifestation,
the Pocket Property is foreseeable as a product, which could
be mass-produced to satisfy peoples craving to be in control
of their own intimate universes.
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