Strange case of the melting house: Alex Chinneck's mind-bending buildings
Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – British artist Alex Chinneck creates playful architectural illusions in highly visible spaces. A Pound of Flesh for 50p, a full-scale house made of wax bricks installed in Southwark, is one of his most recent projects.
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – During its run, a team would come and heat the house each night to help the melting process along. "People go there every morning and night, going past it to and from work...so that provided a perfect opportunity for an artwork that offered transformation and a structural devolution."
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – What does the name mean? Not much, really. "I just indulge in the opportunity to make something abstract in a process that's otherwise extremely planned," Chinneck says. "In long titles, if you integrate familiar language, it give them a pleasing familiarity and makes it easier on the mind and the tongue."
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – Take My Lighting, But Don't Steal my Thunder, a "floating" plastic building, opened in London's Covent Garden just days before the melting house. It was a major tourist draw, and led to an 18 percent increase in footfall for the surrounding shops.
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – For Chinneck, it's important to create work that's ambitious, but still accessible. "You don't do something that's intellectually and culturally elitist," he explains. "You do something that the five-year-old boy from Brazil who's on holiday can understand."
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – However, he doesn't mind if people refer to his pieces by their nicknames. (Under the Weather But Over the Moon, for example, becomes "The Upside-Down House".) "Even I call them the nickname ... I like a public installation that you can just describe in three words."
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – Chinneck first grabbed the public's attention last year with From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes, the sliding house in Margate.
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Photos: Is that building supposed to do that?
Is that building supposed to do that? – The sliding house continues to attract a large number of visitors, to the apparent delight of local businesses. One shop-owner was so appreciative of the increase in trade after the house's unveiling that he gifted Chinneck a vintage suit.
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