NOVEMBER 2, 2022. GRACE EBERT
All images © Sarah Ross
In 2005, artist Sarah Ross designed four absurdly bulging leisure suits to illuminate how public infrastructure is not built for bodies.
Among American cities, Los Angeles has a reputation for being particularly car-centric, and it lacks the infrastructure for walkability or a robust public transit system. This choice of design is inherently political, as it makes commutes and travel across neighborhoods more inaccessible for people who don’t drive.
There’s also the fact that public spaces available to pedestrians generally aren’t constructed with comfort in mind, an issue Chicago-based artist Sarah Ross sought to remedy back in 2005 with the satirical Archisuits. Absurdly shaped, Ross’s four leisurewear pieces bulge with supports that perfectly fit into the negative space of benches, fences, and building facades. The designs draw a contrast between the soft, bendable wearables and the cold, rigid architecture, which the artist describes as “an arm of the law, a form that uses the built environment to police and control raced, classed, and gendered bodies.” […]
msamba 
That the public spaces are not made for comfort is on purpose, I think. In the US they are very afraid of people assembling. All groups larger than 3 and without a tourist guide are a potential danger.
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