Derek Di Fabio
Conquer the sky!02 March 2013
A creative workshop for children aged 5–12 led by artist Derek Di Fabio
2 March 2013, 3–5pm
Shaping the powers that surround us, capturing physical forces to conquer the heights…
In response to the exhibition Evolution& Comfort by Yves Scherer, Italian artist Derek Di Fabio has conceived a workshop that references the imagery of traditional Japanese kite-making with the fairytale monsters of the Brothers Grimm.
Following the paw-prints of the donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster in the folktale ‘The Town Musicians of Bremen’ the aim of the workshop is to go on an adventure by building a monstrous entity, piling together the body shapes of the workshop’s participants.
The town musicians of Bremen worked together to combine their individual characters and in their union, they appeared as a witch - formidable and fearsome at the same time - shaping their own place in the world.
The participants of the workshop were asked to add a super power to their outline shape. Together with the artist they built a tower in the air referencing these emphatic shapes. It's an anti-gravity tower, it's not based on earth power, but on wind and movement/handling: the position of its elements could continuously change.
The project becomes a flying carpet for different physical dimensions to be explored. It was an experience of making an organic structure that can be modified and appear in our imaginary again. The workshop ended with a walk to the square of Dalston Junction to test the crafted kites.
Special thanks to Katia Beltrame, Chantal Ch, Ting Cheng, Katharina Harnack, Chen Hsian-Jung, Adriana Ricci for their help.
