the Pavement

Urban nomads

Teo Kermeliotis, 03 February 2010

A German artist has been fusing art, architecture and design to create innovative life systems that can be used by homeless people. Winfried Baumann's creations, dubbed ‘Urban Nomads', take into account the special conditions rough sleepers live in and can be managed by one person. His collection of works includes Instant Housing (small mobile homes), Instant Cooking (nomadic mobile kitchen), Instant Help (medical help for homeless people), Instant Exhibition (mobile living and exhibition systems) and Instant Shelter (emergency aid).

While some of Baumann's objects are merely art pieces, many have been bought by homeless magazines in Germany and given to homeless people. "The Instant Objects are working in different ways," Mr Baumann told The Pavement. "Some are just art objects to show the challenging situation of fringe groups and homeless people, while others are sponsored by donations and have been given to welfare services. They can be given to people who need for them."

Mr Baumann, who has been involved in this project since 2001, says that art cannot solve the problem of homelessness. His creations are not a nostrum, but act as an important contribution to the public argument over the issue. "Art has a social responsibility, so this is why I deal a lot with corporate and social themes. On my trips to the big metropolises I always kept track on the contact to homeless people and figured out that they have the need for a place they can call home. Even if it's small, it's huge for them. As a result, I started working and developing Instant Housing objects."

Many of Mr Baumann's objects have been shown in exhibitions in Belgium, France and Italy. He says that homeless people's reactions have been very positive. "They also give me input and advice for improvements and variations," he adds.

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Street Heat

Carinya Sharples, 03 February 2010

Celebrities love to do (or be seen doing) their bit for homeless people - bar Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies, who bit a homeless man instead. In honour of their selfless deeds, we've collected a number of stars that have made the news for helping our readers over the festive season.

Not one known to gush, Hollywood hard-man Russell Crowe proved he was a softie at heart when he gave his winter coat to a homeless fan, known as Radio Man, who had cycled to Pittsburgh just to see Crowe on set filming The Next Three Days. The coat in question was a grey, downy number with a fur hood. Good job Radio Man's favourite actor isn't Sex And The City clothes horse Sarah Jessica Parker.

Russell Crowe's coat pales into insignificance, however, in comparison to the generous gifts of the French first lady, Carla Bruni, who has struck up a friendship with a homeless man living near in her Paris home. Denis, 53, said Ms Bruni regularly hands over €50 or €100 notes, and the pair discuss books and music. The 41-year-old ex-model has also given her neighbour a military-style duvet and offered to put him up in a hotel, an offer he turned down. "It's not that I enjoy being in the street, but I've got my habits," Denis told reporters. "People say it's cold. That's true, but I'm well covered up." It's also a good excuse to use when his new friend asks if he's listened to her latest album.

Rather than handing out CDs, living music legend Bob Dylan is donating the sales of his latest musical offering to homelessness. In the festive spirit (or possibly after one too many festive spirits), the grizzled singer-songwriter recorded an album of traditional Yuletide favourites entitled Christmas In The Heart. Released on October 12, the royalties go towards Crisis UK and the World Food Programme. Bob Dylan rocking out 'Here Comes Santa Claus'? The times they are a-changing.

But first prize goes to fashion oddball Lady Gaga, who last year raised US$35,000 for a Toronto shelter, toured youth shelter Eva's Phoenix and dished out free concert tickets to young volunteers as part of Virgin Mobile's RE*Generation campaign to help homeless youngsters in the US. "If I can be inspiring to them and be a part of it, that makes me feel more powerful than any of the stage drama or the flashing lights," gushed the Paparazzi star.

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Homeless chic hits Milan

Tracey Kiddle, 03 February 2010

Men with dishevelled and dusty hair, wheeling shopping trolleys and emerging from cardboard boxes, models treading a catwalk, styled to look like rough sleepers: this was the scene at Vivienne Westwood's latest fashion show for Milan Fashion Week.

Coined "homeless chic" by one magazine editor, who described it as "a little close to the bone", the theme, apparently inspired by a friend of Westwood's who works for a homelessness charity, has raised a few eyebrows in and out of the fashion world.

And sensitivity seemed to be the order of the evening according to The Times. It said: "It was not the only delicate subject to be broached. One of Westwood's models wore an orange boiler suit - a touch of Guantánamo chic, perhaps."

When questioned, Westwood admitted that she herself had no experience of being homeless, says The Times. "The nearest I have come to it is going home and finding I don't have my door key," she said. "I mean, what a disaster that is, dying to get in your house and you can't. And what if it wasn't there any more?"

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