SQUIRREL

Tulum / Mexico
August 2020

Squirrel is an art/design intervention that revamped a derelict local business located in Tulum, Mexico. The intervention site was a familial shop/home that operated in a versatile fashion: it sold clothing, toys, consumer electronics, produce, and even functioned as a car wash.

However, the site was uninviting to the passersby. Its mute appearance concealed its adaptive, hybrid, and amusing characteristics, as well as the charisma of its owners. In this project, we analyzed the shop’s current conditions and conceived an artistic light sculpture that would underscore and aggregate to the site’s unique environment and features.

The sculpture took the form of a colossal and illuminated “Slinky”- an evocative and vibrant childhood toy – placed on top of the roof. Visually, the Slinky ‘stretches’ and ‘traverses’ the roof, hanging below it, lighting up both exterior and interior spaces.