Manual for

XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY


XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY, V-A-C exhibition, at Palazzo delle Zattere in Venice, during the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Italy, 2021


Introduction:

The XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY enables persons to set up a library and to sit down and read anywhere in public space. XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY can be used to provide access to knowledge in a trusting exchange between the library and the user. Unlike digital media, it is still more difficult to spread misinformation using printed media such as a book. One could imagine that the XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY could serve as a tool to help secure real information in a local community. The XYZ CARGO MOBILE OFFICE was commissioned by Space Caviar as a contribution to the V-A-C exhibition, at Palazzo delle Zattere in Venice, during the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2021.

Construction:

The XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY is based on the XYZ CARGO cycles, developed by N55/ ion Sørvin and Till Wolfer. XYZ CARGO cycles uses a completely new modular way of building functional bicycles with a focus on local fair production in a socially just and environmentally sustainable way. Find out more at xyzcargo.com and n55.dk.

Background:

We live in a world where large concentrations of power are trying to abolish language and reality itself through systematic misinformation and manipulation of traditional media as well as social media. Technological developments have made it possible to control misinformation in a whole new way. The increasing use of technologies such as AI also makes it possible to falsify all types of information, making it impossible to determine true from false. At the same time, these technologies are controlled either by states such as China or by perversely rich men who utilise them to further their own ideological and economic goals. In this situation, it becomes relevant to gather trusted information. For example, in the form of written books, which are still more difficult to falsify. The XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRARY can be one of many tools that can be used to store and share real information.


Copenhagen, Denmark, 2021




Reclaim the city - DIY urban planning:

A potential revolution is possible if we reclaim the cities. By introducing some simple rules we could change the way cities develop: We could decide to set a limit on the number of square meters that a person has available to live on. We could set a profit limit on people’s basic needs, including the need to have a home and a place to work. We could introduce a limit on the amount of personal wealth allowed. We could prevent international corporations from owning our homes and workplaces. We could set a limit on the allowable size of companies. Instead of competing with each other, we could cooperate and try to figure out how to create a good socially and environmentally sustainable life in the city? N55 suggests that we find a different approach to urban planning, respect conditions for description, and take into consideration what is right and wrong. Intelligent urban design would require the design of systems that adjust themselves to the persons who live in them. Unlike a top-down master plan, such systems gradually dissolve themselves as the inhabitants take over and transform their city according to their needs and desires. Based on collaboration and diversity, intelligently created cities acknowledge that we are social beings needing space for being different. It is possible to let the growth of the city be framed by simple rules, which allows people to freely develop their own environments and systems. N55 propose a critical approach to city design by daring to give the inhabitants real and meaningful influence on the form and function of their city, and by using friendly technologies, which allows our urban environment to exist in symbiosis with our planet rather than as a parasite. XYZ CARGO MOBILE LIBRAR can be seen as part of N55’s ongoing research aiming to find new ways of using public space while respecting persons and local communities. An attempt to find ways of living, with as small concentrations of power as possible.

By N55/ ion Sørvin and Till Wolfer

Thanks to:
Per Schandorf
Space Caviar

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