Berlin-based artist Hans Hemmert (famous for his work with balloons) threw a party where guests wore shoe-extenders to make them all the same height of 2 meters. Aside from bringing the partygoers all to a common eye level (and eliminating the awkward postures of party talk between the tall and the short), the gathering is lent an infographic nature by the shoes: all made from blue foam, the person's real height is read in the visual uniformity of the sole instead of at the head—like a walking bar graph.
This (completely underpublished) project, entitled "Level," is from 1997, produced for the Personal Absurdities show at the Galerie Gebauer Berlin. Finding it now, in 2010, I can't help but read it as a design event, getting directly at the basic qualities that shape our interactions with others—what does it mean when we all share one height?
Hans Hemmert is part of the art collective Inges Idee. Check out their site for more amazing projects in public space.
Thanks, Steve!
Lisa is dedicated to promoting the American contemporary design scene. She keeps herself busy as the co-founder of the Object Design League, an association of independent designers in Chicago, and design practice Smith&Linder, both co-founded with Caroline Linder. She also teaches foundation research studios at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
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Shoes that make everyone
the same height
it's a great concept though! I'm only about 5'6" and would love an opportunity to find myself "eye-to-eye" with the entire crowd at a party.
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I think you'll find that what short people want is to be happy. It would be a very happy person whose greatest worry was their height.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVc0EZl3AfU
Starting around 2.26 or so. Hilarious.
What do you think you know about art? 'Knowledge' of art is the perception of it, and all these posts are perfectly valid perceptions of the concept. Go drink a designer cocktail together.
btw Pepin the fogged floor is a great idea.
My shoes will the pair from the bottom row!
I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
I guess lifting short people up is better than lopping off the feet of taller people.
Andy
www.andycairns.com
A friend is 2 meters tall, so she would have to go in bare feet. The bad design problem she faces every day are things that don't fit. She compensates, but we need variable depth holes in the floors:-)
http://www.6footsix.com/colleenify/2010/01/whats-colleenification.html
so if designers need a challenge ...