With the diminishment of physical communications in people around the world; with the introduction of the internet, smart phones and now computer tablets, you find yourself in the situation wherever you are of not truly knowing the society within which you live. Even though BBM on Blackberries is a market leader and is said to have caused the recent humanitarian break down of London’s riots it became apparent that it was the youth of today that not only cannot exist without technology, they have no social ethos with it. The burning of people’s livelihoods and homes, ransacking of cars and the assaults on local and innocent people, looting prevailed as the current London trend. However it seemed so relevant that away from all this in the show room of Showstudio a metal structure glowed with the shimmer of fires burning. The Francois and Bernard Baschet designed Sound Sculpture Robe as seen in ‘Qui êtes-vous, Polly Magoo’ in 1966, translated a message through time. The transcription being, from such outlandish hysteria as seen in the riots there was not sound reasoning which there was for the Sound Sculpture as an art piece which is why the hysteria of the time and of now is justified.

written by Ben Z. Fern

 
[pro-player]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU6D-DdLFKw[/pro-player]

Constantly throughout the satire ridden film everyone is wanting to know, “Who are you Polly Magoo?” directly relating to the ideology that people today in London and around the world have everything stereotyped. However when it was the case that the children of the generation were running amok and making statements such as “we’re doing this to show the rich people we have a voice” said by one girl amongst the frenzy of Hackney street violence, it was obvious that if they were going to come out in force they should have a voice, but to say something for a cause. With twitter over the four days of riots tweeting the Chinese whispers of around 7 million users about what is happening in their street, the legend of the Turkish men in Dalston became the London equivalent to the satire in the Polly Magoo film, being joked about how great they were. These men in a Turkish ethnic enclave were protecting their world; their families, shops and work establishments and coming together managed to do so. They are now seen as the local heroes whom a very small amount of London’s population know little about even though they may frequent their shops regularly. In the days following the riots, in the calm of the summer sun, two sets of people came together forming an allegiance to wash away the misdemeanors of the local hoodlums. The East End London hipsters and the Turkish community worked together to restore their district.

Francois and Bernard Baschet had ‘recréer la femme’ in the opening section of the film by William Klein, the Turk’s bravery has recreated a social link of cultures in London without technology and a realization that it is a physical link to someone which is really needed exactly the same as the reaction you gain from seeing a stunning piece of engineering in the flesh such as the sound sculpture robe. If only the Turkish men had been wearing these aluminium pieces during the riot then two birds could be killed with one stone…

Info:
The sound sculpture robe – Showstudio Shop

Ben Z. Fern is our currently London based intern, studying at Central Saint Martins, with promising potential in journalism, styling and photography.