Project Partners: SKIP Gallery, Fandangoe Kid, Centrespace Design, The Loss Project, Mr T Carting, Brookfield Properties

Project Brief: 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health challenges in our lifetime, something that has been significantly impacted by the global pandemic. Challenges with our mental health can feel incredibly isolating but in reality it’s something so many of us experience. The candy-coloured, ice-cream-kiosk-in-a-dumpster, first appearing in London during summer 2022 went on tour to feature in NYC during October 2022. The installation hosted free mental health workshops alongside delicious scoops of ice cream made by ‘Blue Marble Ice Creams’.

Our Services: Idea Generation, Brief development, Concept Design, Developed Design, Technical Design, Construction.

Photographs: Tara Darby, Lee Baker

In July 2022, Fandangoe Kid, SKIP Gallery and CAUKIN Studio launched candy-coloured ice-cream kiosk Fandangoe SKIP in support of mental health. In October 2022, it went on tour, in the form of a reappropriated American dumpster with a fully integrated arts and mental health program.

The candy-colored, ice-cream-kiosk-in-a-skip offering Brooklyn’s Blue Marble ice cream, comes to Brookfield Place New York following its Summer 2022 London tour, with a commissioned documentary by BBC World Service will be airing on November 18 th , 2022.

Fandangoe Kid’s work is driven by her own story following the loss of family members in 2011.

Her practice is inspired by the desire to create a platform for open dialogue around the still taboo subject of grief. Describing her family as a melting pot of big characters, she has always been interested in big visual storytelling. Nicholson believes everyone seeks connection and created the installation to provide a space for people to share their stories, and decimate the stigmas associated with loss and grief.  

The stand-out kiosk will be made of sustainable materials in collaboration with CAUKIN Studio, a social enterprise that creates impact through architecture. The Fandangoe Skip *on tour* offers a brand-new space, reappropriating the American dumpster for ice cream and mental health. CAUKIN have designed and built an innovative community space which accommodates multiple offerings, workshops, and talks that make up the programme, curated by The Loss Project. The space allows for intimate group workshops and talks in a semiprivate environment, complete with atmospheric lighting and sound, with the backdrop of Brookfield Place and the World Trade Center.

With the dumpster providing nearly three times the amount of space in comparison to its predecessor - the skip, the artist and design team were able to create a more inward facing design, to allow for workshops in a semi-private, semi-public setting. The form and layout is split into two main areas; the larger open sided bench seating, and the internal room – both designed to host different kinds of mental health workshops. As with most temporary structures, rather than using bespoke materials, instead the decision was reached to opt for standardised timber products and simple joints to let the stand-out colour scheme and carefully considered form create the artwork. 

In a statement on their continued partnership with [Annie Nicholson], CAUKIN Studio elaborates,

“We’re thrilled to embark on the next stage of the Fandangoe SKIP, across the pond in New York City. Working alongside such amazing collaborators, on such an impactful project, has been a dream for us. The project has allowed us to develop a new creative arm for our practice, one which has more of an arts focus. It’s been so rewarding to see the mental health program come together and fit so well with the structure and design. It might be a small project in the physical sense of the word, but the wider repercussions and knock-on effects that the workshops and resources will have, make the initiative so worthwhile.” 

Regarding Brookfield Place hosting the installation, Elysa Marden, Senior Vice President, Arts’ Events at Brookfield Properties says, “Brookfield Place is thrilled to bring the Fandangoe SKIP tour to New York, after a successful presentation at Brookfield Properties’ London property, Canary Wharf. Conversations around mental health and loss are difficult yet important. We are proud to host such a unique platform that invites our community to heal together through the arts.”