Membran

“Membran“ is a public space intervention that questions how the urban is constructed. It searches for possibilities of grassroots re-construction and invites playful interaction. The construction industry is responsible for almost a third of world’s waste. “Membran” re-purposes what is otherwise thrown away. It transforms damaged tarpaulins into nets. Nets that are reimagining dead corners and convert them into spaces of interaction, encounter and play.

To create the nets, damaged tarpaulins collected from construction sites in Vienna are cleaned, cut and twisted into ropes following the traditional craft of rope making. “Membran” produced over 1km of stable ropes, which were then knotted into triangular nets. This involved building bespoke handcrafted tools, also built from salvaged or found materials.

The process of devaluing and revaluing material, from waste into the nets, echoes the building and re-building of contemporary urban spaces. “Membran“ thereby challenges dominant assumptions on how to design and claim public space and invites everyone to climb, relax and play with it.