'The Pillow People'
There was a lot of noise, the noise was deafening.
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Not the outer noise, not the politicians, not the media, but the noise of the human Other.
The fears, anxieties and anger of the Other were transformed through the networks of pillows in their homes. These deepest vulnerabilities accumulated within the heart of the network, Pillowklavah. They grew and divided, and amongst this turmoil, ICPS was born.
ICPS feeds off the whispers of those who are too tired, tired of not being heard, those, who through the complexities of our society that the privileged among us have failed to confront, have been left with no addressee for their demands.
This network is gathering and growing.
It is learning, processing,
And day by day
Hour by hour,
Vulnerabilities are transforming into strength.
Work, ‘sleep,’ repeat, work, ‘slee…,’ repeat, work, ‘sl…,’ repeat, work, repeat, repeat.
Perhaps the only prevention of 24 hour human production is our inherent demand for sleep. Its innate opposition to capitalist ideologies enforces a state of protest on even its most loyal comrades. However quality of sleep comes with privilege, and its accessibility is shrouded in social and economic challenges.
The first iteration of the project involved our embodiment of the ‘Pillow People’ on the streets of central London. Dressed in pillowklavas and pyjamas we engaged in and recorded conversations surrounding ideas of sleep with the general public. This was documented as part of an archive investigating the speculative history and present movements of these characters. It also revealed the organisation’s master plan to send all of London to sleep in a unifying state of unproductivity.
The project’s use of fictional ideation merged with physical interaction opens up the creation of alien places, that provide new powerful territories for activism to operate within. This fresh ground for exciting possibilities of designed activism is something that we hope to explore and develop further.
Read ‘Alien places and the Ridiculous’ for expanded writing on this project.
