Here you see two preparatory drawings for Wodiczko’s
seminal Homeless Vehicles, exemplifying the range of
his artistic practice. With knowledge and training in
industrial design, he has tackled entrenched societal
problems like homelessness by creating objects
designed to address the needs of people living without
permanent shelter. In the late 1980s, after consulting
with unhoused individuals, he made a series of vehicles
with spaces for sleeping, collecting empty bottles, and
storing possessions—as these vividly rendered sketches
illustrate. The drawings reveal Wodiczko’s ideas in
practice, with details that were realized in the final
object and used by several men in New York City. The
vehicles were not meant to be a viable solution to
the housing crisis, but rather were a form of social
disruption, a critique of former U.S. President Ronald
Reagan’s “trickle-down” economic policy and the ways
in which it exacerbated existing disparities.
