We gave you a heads-up about an exhibition that artist Jan Vorman has running earlier last week, but we were still curious and wanted to find out more about his ongoing work with Lego bricks and built structures; so we asked him. Read on for Jan's responses to M.E.'s questions...

Let's start with the basics: What's your motivation or aim behind your interventions? Are you a man on a mission?

My motivation is to find serious approaches towards taking life less serious. I am not a missionary. I am trying to reflect on the world, just like the world reflects on me, and on society surrounding me, to express what I see, and how I perceive the world. For me, and for others who are open to be inspired, because I am also open to be inspired by people or situations.

Many of us have strong childhood memories of playing with Lego bricks; constructing things pulling them apart, and remaking them into new objects; how did the idea to combine them with architectural fabric come about?

If you ever strolled through medieval villages, especially like those in Italy, you will find, that the ways of construction there are based on the principles of necessity. If you have a hole in a wall and any kind of stones, that fits and fills it while assuring the wall's stability wall, then it really doesn´t matter much, of what shape, color or composite they are: Red clinker bricks or bricks from grey aerated beton; whatever. In a little village, far away from the availability of the diverse construction materials you find in urbanized areas, one doesn´t need a vivid imagination to retrace, that, for example, the stones leftover from one house will not be thrown away and wasted, but be used for, either, fixing or adding onto the main structure. Just like when, as a kid, you started digging deep in your Box of Lego, to finish that structure you have begun building, but you don´t find the appropriate pieces, of either colour, shape or size. Out of need, you start to take pieces of other colours, or you combined smaller pieces to fit. If you have a precise shape or structure in mind, the colours don´t really matter. I want to draw parallels in our understanding of architecture nowadays, and the basic construction principles: Stone on Stone, and highlight also the differences. Every material or colour is possible with nowadays technologies and of course used. An important part of the project is the contrast between shiny colorful plastic and matt dusty stones - The contrast between Game and Work. If you compare the surfaces of both, the plastic patches seem to be 'more perfect' than the stone bricks - although, in terms of stability, it is the other way around. Those two materials hardly connect. A frequently asked question is about whether or not the pieces are glued into the holes. They aren´t. And I actually like the aspect, that the patches fall out or are removed over the course of time. The pieces will be reassembled to become something else, somewhere else. Besides the cost of these plastic bricks, they essentially aren´t useable for anything but for playing.

You're involved with Platform 21 and their Repair Project. Can you tell us more about this? How did this collaboration happen?

Repairing is the roots of the dispatchwork project. In it´s appearance the project might seem to be about Design, but the Dispatchwork Project intends more - the mundane design is the plus to this project. In the little village of Bocchignano, where the first project took place, people don´t care too much about design, but about functionality. So I found holes and fixed them. Without missing the sense of humour behind the words, an architectural magazine just recently attested the dispatchwork project to live up to standards of preservation of monuments and historic buildings being both reversible and not harmful to the fabric of buildings.

The design industry specifically, has traditionally been concerned with the new, but more and more frequently we're seeing designers return to the past. (creating nostalgic products or addressing issues of sustainability) What do you think is the driving force behind this? And how (if at all) does this relate to the work you're doing?

I am not involved in design industry much, and I don´t see that the dispatchwork project is a design strategy. One cannot deny, that Lego, just like Tetris or Super Mario Bros for the same reasons, are connected with nostalgic feelings, amongst whole generations. Nonetheless, the design the dispatchwork project features, is a result of a necessity: My need to 'repair' broken walls in a playful way, contradicting seriousity of the basic rules of architecture like, for example, the stability a of walls, but nonetheless, proposing a good solution, with an accessible design.

You've 'intervened' in a number of types of structures all over the world, from Italian streetscapes, to war damaged structures in Germany to locations in Tel Aviv. How are your actions received in different countries? How passers by react? Do they read meaning into your work that isn't intended by yourself? (Particularly in terms of historically sensitive structures perhaps?)

Most people connect it with good memories. I want to stress, that I am not campaining for a Toy Company. It is merely the object used to transport the ideas mentioned above: To connect working with playing. Playing is essential and global. Not only in young ages is 'playing' essential for learning, creating and improving - all around the world. This is also the reason why Lego could become an international Product, because kids play everywhere, and adults build walls everywhere. People with different backgrounds are likely to read the project in different ways, but no matter where, every single person I met while dispatching the walls apreciated my work and some of them were actually eager to stay and play.

What are your plans for the future? What can we look forward to seeing from you next?

You can look forward to seeing some more dispatchwork projects, but besides I am working on other sitespecific interventions and am right now very interested in kinetic objects. Come see my exhibition, where I show machines of all types. It is up until 13th of June. To see more works and find more information, please visit the 'news' section of my website.