N55’s projects range from the practical to the The Snail Shell System (previous page) is a low-cost way political. Besides dwellings, food-production for people to move around and live in various environ- _{systems, and portable soil factories, there is a lan-} ments. Pictured is the late Ingvil Hareide Aarbakke, one of ^{guage education kit for illegal immigrants in the the founders of N55. The Spaceframe (above) is low-cost} and movable; N55 envisions it as a living space for three works, and a “protest” rocket that can distribute to four people. “It demands practically no maintenance.” various things over a vast area from high altitudes

(for example, printed matter or seeds). projects. Financed primarily by exhibitions, grants,
One of N55’s most popular and long-standing and educational work, Sørvin considers N55 non-
projects is Land, which encourages people to donate commercial, and creates and documents all the
property for public use. Parcels of land have been projects expressly so they can be freely duplicated
contributed to this effort in the United States, and refined by others around the world. You could
Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, say N55 makes open source domestic technology.
Norway, and Sweden. The land is maintained by N55 publishes manuals for all of its projects
whoever is currently using and inhabiting it. online ( N55.dk), including detailed instructions and

N55 started out as an artist’s group in 1994, photos, so others can easily implement the ideas. when they were 12 members living together in an There is also an N55 book that includes most of apartment in the center of Copenhagen, trying to these manuals (available as a free download). “rebuild the city from within.” The group took its ^{name from its address at Nørre Farimagsgade 55. Sørvin and Aarbakke continued to make use of this Bruce Stewart has covered technology issues for various} publications for over a decade and is the editorial director of space as the launching pad for their functional art O’Reilly Media’s online publishing group.