mmmm…is a collaboration between Emilio Alarcón, Alberto Alarcón, Ciro Márquez and Eva Salmerón, who have been creating projects for public spaces since 1998 in Madrid, Spain.
They have arranged 100 couples kissing simultaneously throughout the crowds of the city center. Noise levels on the streets unexpectedly plummeted during that moment of mass intimacy. Or they have built a life-size car in brick. It occupied a parking space between two vehicles parked in the street. The three-dimensional, pixilated car was modeled after a modern automobile. The wheels were one foot thick. The car weighed five tons.
They have also scattered members of an orchestra that played the same music simultaneously on various streets. Pedestrians experienced the music differently depending on which street they walked past, the speed at which they walked, and by which direction they were headed.
They have built the Meeting Bowls in Times Square (New York), large objects shaped like bowls with seating to accommodate eight people. They constructed temporary and playful urban furniture, designed to promote interaction by having those seated inside face one another. Meeting Bowls were social places for gathering, getting to know people and fostering dialogue in small groups. During the time that the Meeting Bowls were in Times Square approximately 20,000,000 pedestrians saw them and tens of thousands took photographs.
They have created also a permanent public art project in Baltimore that includes three large sculptures that form the letters BUS. Each letter stands 14 feet tall and 7 feet wide. This conceptual sculpture functions as a literal bus stop on S. East Street. The artists mmmm… wanted to create a place for the community to enjoy, interact, and meet while waiting for the bus. Their mission was to transform the dull experience of waiting for the bus to an entertaining, leisurely space in the middle of the hectic rhythm of the city. BUS is made with wood and steel, materials that are typically used to build urban furniture. The three letters of BUS allow passengers to assume different postures of sitting or standing while waiting for the bus. The S allows passengers to lie back while they wait, and the B provides handicap-accessible shelter from the wind and rain. The size, shape, and function of BUS, make this unique bus stop a reference sculpture for Highlandtown neighborhood and the city of Baltimore. BUS has become an iconic urban meeting point.
