richard woods abandons his holiday home in a roadside skip in london

as part of london festival of architecture, richard woods and SKIP gallery set ‘upgrade’, a sculpture which will remain in hoxton square, london, until june 30. having its roots in the artist’s contribution into 2017 folkstone triennial, which showed six brightly colored bungalows appearing around the coastal town, the piece is a roadside skip containing a big-scale model of one of those holiday houses.

image © ali tollervey

for ‘upgrade’, the project obtains a new interpretation by being set in hoxton, a district which has undergone an intense gentrification in the last 20 years — a process which still causes arguments between the neighborhood’s inhabitants. nevertheless, the woods and SKIP’s installation doesn’t seek to be part of the debates but to invite the visitors to reflect on the changes of the city.

image © ali tollervey

‘as a student at the slade school, I spent many hours walking the areas north of king’s cross,’ explains woods. ‘I would look for skips containing plywood that I could drag back to gower street studios and make into sculpture. many of these skips contained kitchens or three-piece suites. by proposing that a whole house could be cast aside and put into a skip, I am highlighting and exaggerating this process of gentrification.’

image © ali tollervey

during the last decade, artist and designer richard woods has participated in important international festivals and events and set solo shows presenting his furniture and artworks. designboom invites the readers to refresh their memory and enjoy the finest pieces one more time. 

dirty chair #13
image © the artist and the alan cristea gallery
read more about the D.I.Y. show on designboom here

red brick table # 4 
image © designboom
read more about the red brick show on designboom here

hay bale designed in collaboration with sebastian wrong 
image © designboom
read more about the hay bale on designboom here