Spa­ce­bus­ter by Raumla­bor
(Above: Kit­chen Monu­ment by Raumla­bor­ber­lin with Plas­tique Fan­tas­tique, Duisburg, Ger­many 2006, photo by Marco Canevacci) 

Spa­ce­bus­ter is a mobile infla­table structure — a por­table, expan­da­ble pavi­lion — that is designed to trans­form pub­lic spa­ces of all kinds into points for com­mu­nity gathe­ring. A new ite­ration of a past Raumla­bor pro­ject, the Küche­n­mo­nu­ment (pre­sen­ted in Europe in 2006–8), the Spa­ce­bus­ter will make its first appea­rance in the US this eve­ning and will tra­vel throu­ghout Manhat­tan and Bro­ok­lyn for 10 con­secu­tive eve­nings hos­ting vari­ous com­mu­nity events. 

The pavi­lion is com­pri­sed of an infla­table bubble-like dome that emer­ges from a step van that also hou­ses the com­pres­sor that keeps the Spa­ce­bus­ter infla­ted. The dome expands and orga­ni­cally adjusts to its surroun­dings, be it in a field, a woo­ded park, or below a highway over­pass. The mate­rial is a translu­cent plas­tic that allows the events taking place inside of the shel­ter — scre­e­nings, lectu­res, din­ners or dis­cus­si­ons — to be enti­rely visi­ble from the out­side. Likewise the exte­rior envi­ron­ments become the events’ backdrops. 

Each of these ten eve­nings will be orga­ni­zed in con­junction with a com­mu­nity group, non­pro­fit orga­ni­zati­ons, uni­ver­sity, or arts orga­ni­zation. Events will include artist talks, film scre­e­nings, com­mu­nal din­ners and many other events.

raumla­bor, sto­refront­news