This charrette is based on Judi Werthein’s work Brinco, a uniquely designed sneaker that was distributed for free in 2005 to Mexican immigrants who were about to attempt an illegal crossing into the U.S. Trademarked “Brinco” (Spanish for “jump”) after the local expression for crossing the border, each pair contains a map of the border-area (on the inside of the soles), a compass, a wallet, pockets to hide money and medication, and other necessities, such as an image of Santo Toribio Romo, the official saint of the Mexican immigrant.

In the charrette, students participating in a product design class split up in groups and develop “survival kits” for different geographic regions of the world, taking into consideration local adversarial conditions, whether political, environmental, or economic. The kits respond to contextual criteria such as poverty, mobility, and belief systems, and must contain 10 items.

This charrette is hosted by Parsons faculty member Robert Kirkbride.

Charrette with artist and Parsons class: 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Public presentation of survival kits: 6:30 p.m. in the gallery.

This program has been made possible, in part, by a generous grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

This event is presented as part of the Vera List Center’s program cycle on “Branding Democracy,” and is presented in conjunction with the exhibition, OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding, on view from October 15, 2008 to February 1, 2009.