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Basic Forms (of Urban Life)

Part of Play Make Do

— ,Level G
Public art installation of chairs and tables in various colours

© Josema Cutillas

Sit,  gather, move and play! Discover an interactive public art installation by artist-designer Päivi Raivio.

Featuring modular plywood furniture in varying shapes and colours, this installation invites participants to rearrange and engage with the elements, creating evolving forms, functions and meanings through both spontaneous and intentional interaction.

The installation highlights the simple prompts that invite us to play at any age. The forms are designed to encourage interaction and shared moments in public space. The colours and shapes draw inspiration from architectural details and elements of the Barbican echoing forms found in the architecture.

Basic Forms (of Urban Life) is an interactive public art installation by artist-designer Päivi Raivio of the design studio RaivioBumann that challenges the conventional norms of urban design, focusing on disruption and embracing disorder within cities and public places.

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The installation is commissioned and supported by the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland.

Installation Themes

Disruption & Flexibility:
Challenging rigid urban spaces and built environments while allowing spontaneous, playful rearrangements. Inviting play, disorder and creativity.

Place Activation: 
The installation comes alive when people interact - sitting, playing, socialising leaving behind spontaneous patterns and shapes.

Basic Urban Life: 
Highlighting essential urban experiences, rest, connection, play, that often get constrained in standard city settings.

Design Democracy: 
Emphasising that public space should be shaped by people; celebrating unpredictable, disorderly and human-centered use. The simple shapes invite people to connect, rearrange, and play with them in multiple ways, while also serving as elements that foster gathering, play, and togetherness.

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Level G