Billy Ernst

Department: Social Design

Insecurities

What: Questioning the purpose of fencing in the contemporary world.

Why: Violence finds expression not only through human interaction but also in objects such as fences. The fence is the physical manifestation of our insecurities and creates ideological and spatial demarcations. It is a product of the struggle for control between humans, a technical solution for social conflicts, a symbolic expression of our desire to separate ourselves from the ‘other’.

How: Billy Ernst examines three variations of an archetypal fence, isolating it from the intended context. By changing the material logic of metal in the three fences, they become soft objects that invite the user to physically interact with them, subverting its meaning of control and separation.

“Soft objects that subvert the meaning of control and separation”