Park Products (July 30-September 29, 2004) was the result of artist-architect partnership Kathrin Böhm and Andreas Lang's residency at the Serpentine Gallery from September 2003 to July 2004. Park Products took as its starting point the production of products that would generate a "mini economy" amongst Kensington Park workers and users. Rather than selling the Park Products, the objective was to create an alternative non-monetary system of exchange, the "currency"--or terms of exchange--for each product was set by the products' originators. Participation in the Park Products economy had the potential to catalyse new relations, understandings and interactions between park constituencies.

Sitting in Kensington Park near the Serpentine Gallery on a lovely day last August, I was drawn into Lang and Böhm's alternative economy when someone approached me to offer a cup of water. Upon accepting this offering and learning from its bearer that this gesture was generated out of the exchange system of the curious mobile stall nearby, I resolved to make my way over and see what this was all about. I admired the smart design of the mobile stall, keenly interested in its various products that one could borrow or obtain through performing various tasks or actions. I learned from the stall's attendant that artists in residence Lang and Böhm had collaborated with Royal College of Art MA Design Products students, as well as several school groups in creating the range of park products. Amongst the product selection, there was a special contraption for experiencing a squirrel's-eyed view of the ground, wild grass seed, plants, Magpie Charms, cards with invisible messages to discover, Chompost Bars, and much more. I took on the task of collecting litter in the specially designed and biodegradable Hand-Bag, with its integrated arm glove. In exchange I received my very own Chompost Bar, a compressed giant "chocolate" bar of Royal Parks compost (as well as that typically pleasant feeling that may result from the liminal experience of unexpectedly partaking in an art event--especially when it also comprises a "good deed").

Some notes from Park Products publication relevant to our own research of alternative systems of exchange, free services offered by artists, (free) publications--in the sense of making something public, putting into common, public space as a platform, artists use of the kiosk…etc

The Park Products project considers the autonomy of public space in recognizing the diversity of uses that the park serves for various publics. Böhm and Lang are interested in "socio-geographical networks of exchange and in using and exploring existing social structures to make collaborative work with a broad range of people" (Sally Tallant, "Introduction", in the Park Products publication).

The Park Products project evidences Böhm and Lang's concern with the potential "intersection between art as a critical venture, design as a problem solving exercise, and architecture as social process" (see Dr Jane Rendall, "Letting Go" in the Park Products publication). This project involved the interdisciplinary collaboration (putting into common) of several fields of expertise, including the network of groups working in and using the Kensington Park: park gardeners, environmentalists, product designers, art gallery invigilators, school children, dog walkers…

The final, and most publicly visible stage of the Park Products project, was the mobile stall. Here the resultant products "play a more pro-active role in encouraging people to engage with one another by negotiating specific forms of exchange". "In Park Products, the proposition of mutual consent as the principal governing the exchange of objects is a refreshingly radical one, especially given contemporary deceptions around consumer choice" (Rendall).

Rendall poses the question: "Where is the aesthetic value of the work to be located--in the products themselves or in the emotional, intellectual and social relations established by those people involved?"

Links

http://www.serpentinegallery.org/special_projects.html

http://www.publicworksgroup.net/

http://www.lay-out.org/publicworks/pages/Park_Products_01.html