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The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

We hope that the students will remember the workshop long after it has finished: for the chaos, the democracy, working with each other, the challenge, the imagination, the oddness, creating an experience and the adrenalin…
And that design is not just about clever objects but also human experience
I know we won’t forget it!
Au revoir ECAL

Roger et Sam

Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

As we began to gently lift… all of the careful planning went out of the window! And the within 30 seconds it was standing! They had done it! The GIANT was standing and gently swaying in the breeze. It looked beautiful and huge against the blue sky with the tiny humans watching on.
The arms moved, fingers gestured, the GIANT stood majestically, then the mood began to change as the GIANT’s fate became clear. It was Friday the 13th and after a whole week of working democracy voted… the GIANT should be brought down to earth with a BANG! The rope attendants began to make the GIANT dance and as the dance became more violent it began to sway and creak, then one arm flew off.. A few seconds more and one final huge sway and the GIANT came crashing down as dramatically as it had risen. Life and death within the hour, creation-destruction-regeneration.
The mood was that of elation and that something very memorable had just been created. (Text by Sam Buxton)

The giant was 8.12 meter high.
the Online betting results said "yes, we can make it"
The giant bet made around 100 Euros profit.
See video "Giant rise" (4MB)
See video "Giant fall" (9MB)Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

The day of the GIANT. Friday the 13th. what a day to choose!! And a traditional day in the Pagan calendar. Would our GIANT stand up?? This was the big question and a buzz had already spread through the school.
At 2:30 we carried what parts were finished to the local football ground down the road. All the school was invited to see and experience the birth, life [and poss death…] of the GIANT.As a crowd of spectators gathered, the students made the final adjustments, attached the arms, the ropes and assigned themselves a position around the GIANT for the raising ceremony. The drums began to beat… (Text by Sam Buxton)

NB: GIANT legs were brought to the football field.
Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

At this point some of us felt confident but we really didn’t know. A poster was created to advertise the event on Friday 13th at 3pm, word was spread through the school, betting began…(Text by Sam Buxton)

NB: poster to advertise the event on Friday the 13th.
Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

This had to be a good day otherwise the project was heading for disaster… The structure had to take shape quickly and teams worked on different elements, the second leg, the torso, the shoulders, the arms, the animated hands and the head. The event was now taking shape and to counteract the nervousness coming from within and outside of the group, about a potential GIANT disaster, a betting ring was set up for people to put money on whether it would stand up, or come crashing down.(Text by Sam Buxton)

See video (4MB)
NB: Sam Buxton next to the GIANT structure.
Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

Split into groups working on the structure and the event, we went to buy materials at the local Jumbo DIY store. The longest thinnest timber, the lightest sheet materials. We carried it on our shoulders the 1 mile back to the school.
There was a lot of nervousness about the structure, how high could we build it? How could we make it strong enough? Would it collapse? We decided to build one leg and go by our instincts.(Text by Sam Buxton)

NB: picture from the top of the cinema studio at ECAL
Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

Now came the difficult part, to get them working as a group of 20+ to come up with concepts and directions for the GIANT. At this point it was totally open whether the GIANT should have a body form or be an abstract structure around a human form. They started brainstorming ideas in groups of 5 and then extracted the most interesting ideas until we had a set of directions to move forward. Then came the chaos on Tues afternoon as democracy broke down and parallel ideas sprung up from individuals. Late Tues a decision was taken with the remaining students to construct a GIANT structure, as big as we could build, with a body from and create an event that would build up to an experience of the GIANT being raised on Friday.(Text by Sam Buxton)

NB: picture at cinema studio ECAL on Wednesday.
Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

It was tough to make this happen but we tried to set up conditions in which they would achieve this. On Monday, before introducing the project brief, we asked the students to produce drawings based around a _ scale outline of themselves and draw GIANT elements around their body form on the wall. These could be anything they imagined, structural forms, energy fields etc. The result was a sprawling graffiti of bodies and shapes.
We later introduced the project with stories and images from ancient tales and rituals, the classic film The Wicker Man, pagan rituals, effigies of demon kings, the burning man festival, sculpture by Anthony Gormley, Gullivers travels and greek mythology.
On top of all the Giant references that we brought to the students, we had a real great story!! The last day of the workshop, was Friday the 13th, a day so infamous that became a synonym for ill fortune when King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars in chains, charged with blasphemy. Hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force 'confessions,' and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake."
A pagan workshop just started towards its festivity on Friday the 13th!
Also, We showed the one day barn building scene from the film Witness to show how they should collaborate….
It felt like we created excitement but also confusion, this was not so bad.(text by Sam Buxton)

NB: Some interesting sketches from monday morning.
Reblog from Social Robots

The GIANT workshop
By Sam Buxton and Roger Ibars
ECAL (Switzerland) May 2005
From Monday the 9th to Friday the 13th

At this point we had a secret desire to burn the GIANT on the last day, to recreate the sacrifice seen in The Wicker Man. As we discussed this with the school it became clear that this would be difficult to arrange, so we decided to see how the GIANT developed and let the students decide it’s fate towards the end.(Text by Sam Buxton)... Sam, we should have burned it!!!

NB: picture of group sketching on the wall.
Reblog from Social Robots