The performance by Martillo Neumático proposes two walls built of 233 inflatable bags that simulate the cargo bags of the freight ships that used to ply the city's estuary from the well-known Ripa dock. A commercial traffic that currently has moved out of the city to port areas.
In the space delimited by the cargo-bag walls and the bridge wall, twelve spotlights were installed projecting a green light to highlight the unusual within the routine.
"At this moment, tens of thousands of merchant ships are plying the oceans. They transport everything: metals, compressed gas, toys, fresh fruit or your smartphone. The whole world depends on transport times. There appear the sacks." Jerome Lorente, from Martillo Neumático.
"34 days is the time that a person would take to consume the air transported in the bags of our intervention. We wanted to bring to Bilbao an experience that invites citizens to reflect on the immediacy of the current market model." Íñigo Barrón, from the collective of architects.
"The 34 days proposal is located on the promenade of the Bilbao estuary, a central place in the imaginary of the city and an everyday landscape for its neighbors. The performance unfolds massive bodies that alter the routine of the Muelle de Ripa. Two walls cut off pedestrians. Behind them comes a place that breaks with the rhythm of the city by referring to Bilbao's industrial past and the logistics processes that sustain consumer society.
The proposal, imprisoned under the bridge of the town hall, intersects the limits of the promenade absorbing the pillars that appear as it passes. The grid of the existing structure is deconfigured to create a succession of spaces organized around a nucleus of green light. Its materiality is made up exclusively of pieces typical of the freight transport industry: more than two hundred and twenty load-absorbing bags make up a rig in rows that are tied vertically with lashing straps and ratchets. Compared to the traditional idea of a wall by adding pieces, the design proposes a propelled thrust, inflated from below that takes advantage of the inflation speed and ease of adjustment of the industrial patents used.
The materials hidden behind express delivery engulf the historic elements of the bridge. Sacks and other devices designed to accelerate the hectic pace of global commerce appear to configure a spatial experience that surprises passersby with a penetrating green light. The sacks emphasize the poetics that these transport chains not only displace material goods but also air. Air between points completely distant from the planet. 34 days seeks to materialize in the city center what lies behind the immediacy of the current consumption model."
The proposal, imprisoned under the bridge of the town hall, intersects the limits of the promenade absorbing the pillars that appear as it passes. The grid of the existing structure is deconfigured to create a succession of spaces organized around a nucleus of green light. Its materiality is made up exclusively of pieces typical of the freight transport industry: more than two hundred and twenty load-absorbing bags make up a rig in rows that are tied vertically with lashing straps and ratchets. Compared to the traditional idea of a wall by adding pieces, the design proposes a propelled thrust, inflated from below that takes advantage of the inflation speed and ease of adjustment of the industrial patents used.
The materials hidden behind express delivery engulf the historic elements of the bridge. Sacks and other devices designed to accelerate the hectic pace of global commerce appear to configure a spatial experience that surprises passersby with a penetrating green light. The sacks emphasize the poetics that these transport chains not only displace material goods but also air. Air between points completely distant from the planet. 34 days seeks to materialize in the city center what lies behind the immediacy of the current consumption model."
Martillo Neumático
