All Images © 2024 Choi+Shine Architects

The Urchins

Manifesta Biennial 

Barcelona, Spain


Sant Adriá de Besòs

September-November 2024

All Images © 2024 Choi+Shine Architects unless otherwise specified.

Design

Jin Choi and Thomas Shine


Structural Design

Thomas Shine


Frame fabrication

Anton Der Kinderen

Thomas Shine

Edward Shine

Marcel Górlikowski 

Noah Tanis 


Installation 

Marc Sala Audet

Manifesta staff and volunteers


Special thanks to:

Hedwig Fijen

Filipa Oliveira

Tatiana Tarragó 

Núria Marquès 

Georgina Surià Gúdel

Maria Elisa

Bernat Bastardas

lace symbolically weaves different people and cultures. Through community involvement, the work enables participants to share the ownership, a sense of achievement and a collective memory of making.


Lace is usually small in scale, and often private. Shown in a large scale in a public place, the lace creates a sense of surprise which contributes to our collective memory.

During the day, the crocheted surface of the Urchins reflects, absorbs and transmits sunlight. In the morning or late afternoon sun, the Urchins appear as a glowing, translucent object.

During the full day sun, the lightweight and yet huge lace urchins cast intricate, patterned shadows, creating both a pleasant visual experience while providing a small shelter from the hot sun.

The work is designed to interact with natural elements: light, shadow, wind and water. Light and shadow are a critical part of the artwork, adding an ethereal dimension to the work.

Audience also interacts with the work; lace creates windows to filter the existing surroundings and rediscover the beauty around us.

Reflections obscure or distort the boundaries, challenging the realm of reality and perception.

People are the center of the artwork. The work creates a space within to invite the audience to occupy and touch, while staging people as an integral element of artwork. 


It is a spatial experience, a tactile expression. 

Every part of the work is touched by hands many times during the process; the embodiment of the collective endeavours to unveil the future.

The physical openings in the lace surface create patterns of light against dark, a juxtaposition of a permeable surface on different visual layers.


The porous lace membranes form windows through which we re- discover the heritage from the past and honour those who struggled to build it; through which we discover the power of the place that has been healing for the last decades; through which we picture our future together.

To the Making…

The design and images of The Urchins  are copyright 2016 - 2024 Choi+Shine Architects and may not be used without written permission.

The images and design  copyright 2016 - 2024   Choi+Shine Architects, LLC.  All rights reserved. 

The designs, artworks and images on this page are subject to copyright, patent and/or trademark protection.

Contact:  Choi+Shine Architects for written permission for image use.

Instagram @choishinearch