I am crazy about this project by HeHe (Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen): Train : urban structure for aesthetic urban transportation, a very intriguing and relevant project about transportation:
Using existing, past and future railway transportation systems and Reverse Cultural Engineer them. Technological process feathers at its periphery. Similar to a fractal image an innovation is followed by other innovations, based on the original one. In a recursive environment like this we would like to go back to the origin, the innovation of railway and propose a different solution, here an individual perpetuated vehicle. In this way artistic process starts by going backwards to propose utilitarian design scenarios.
The Train project is a speculation into the language and aesthetics of transportation, particularly those that have become so ubiquitous and unquestionable for us. By proposing different real installations which would work within active or abandoned public transport structures and a series of conceptual designs a dialogue should be raised that engages in questions about the reality and "real fiction" of traffic.
The project has been inspired by the demise of ARAMIS (french research project about an high tech automated subway that was developped in France during the eighties), which is well summarized in Bruno Latour's book Aramis or the Love of Technology (hey A. I know it's one of your favorite book).
Why do I blog this? I find the project interesting, a kind of hack of current transportation system (they don't steal or hack a vehicle, just the 'physical network' which is smart (conversely I like people building temporary architecture on walls or mountains while climbing). Plus, I also like the way they define themselves: "reverse cultural engineer the technological systems, that surround us". The "ersonal Rapid Transport system, Cabin Taxi, Germany" they show is also amazing:
