Jan Vormann’s global Dispatch work project uses LEGO bricks to repair damaged walls. He describes the project as “a forum to further develop, piece by piece, a global game together”, one that encourages citizens to take back public space and leave their mark on the city in a playful way.
The Lego bricks were donated by local people after a call out. Each Lego piece is carefully selected and put together in situ, they are not secured by glue or cement but by pressure and becoming one with the wall and the patches they are covering.
Some of the installations use a handful of toy bricks while others have used up to 40 kilos. Having started spontaneously patching-up surfaces in Bocchignano, Italy in 2011, Vormann has since employed the technique on walls in nearly 40 cities across Europe, Central America, Asia, and the United States.
“Dispatchwork” aims to ignite childhood memories of abstract shapes and vivid colors, towards a global collaboration of persons unknown to each other. A handful of used bricks is all you need to submit a contribution to the project, as long as you don’t mind when the structures slowly ‘dissolve’ or ‘disappear’ back into children’s toyboxes”, he says. Vormann currently lives in Berlin and works in the T10 Studios. He also teaches in the New Media/Interaction Design department of Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule BTK.
Jan is an academic with a good sense of humour. He broke his hand before coming to Aberdeen but still completed a few works. His project can be done by anyone, he releases control of it and welcomes photos of peoples version of it
Jan Vormann
