We've been thinking about gated communities and the exclusionary uses of fencing. Gates and fencing are used to keep certain people out (= housing communities), as well as keep people in (= prisons). There is a strong socio-economic correlation between those who find gates and fencing working against their favor.
With a roll of rusted fencing, wire cutters, and transparent muslin material we erected a one person shelter in the periphery of a gated lot. We chose to drape our structure in muslin because of its transparent quality—to allow the frame of the structure, the gate, to show through. The structure is not meant to provide long-term shelter. It is mostly a symbolic spatial intervention open to interpretation.
Let us all take NOTE:
Gated communities are a prime example of how privileged classes can separate themselves from poorer families and homelessness, and at the same time distance themselves from their social and economic responsibility toward members of the extended community. More than 7 million Americans, or %6 of the population are shacking up in a gated community.
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