The homeless are the pure corporeal manifestation of the rejected daily accidental phenomenon. When they accidentally turn up in the space that seemed to be under control, they are “powerful” under the following definition: to have the power to invoke the mutability against the cold static homogeneous fixed urban plan. Not to be confused with the definition where the powerful are those who exert great control and influence over people and events, imposing their authority by feeling superior towards the other. This fact places them in the spotlight in a way that their bodies are way more controlled in comparison with the man who fits into the established spatial techniques of occupation (instruments of social and individual surveillance).

Nevertheless, the homeless can fall into the static trap. If their “dwelling” turns static at some point, the homeless man becomes static too by being prisoner of his own property. This translates into a figure that can barely move because of constantly watching his own back. At this point, the homeless lose “the power attributed by mutability”. If this occurs, the man who lives in a “decent static house”, criminalizes him a little less, despite knowing that behind its scenography someone is sleeping on wet cardboard. The more static the homeless become, the less threatening they seem. The more static, the more the man who lives in a “decent static house” can control his activity provided that he deigns to look at him. He always has the power of decision to approach or not to approach, no matter the decision of the homeless, but if the homeless man is static, the “decent man” is not only safer, but empowered in the face of possible danger, by controlling him.

Interior design magazines hyperbolically illustrate the need of substratums where to hide the multiple threatening agents that do not fit into the establishment of a homogeneous fixed scenario. There will be no more forceful a scene than an unpolluted (white) interior living room where no one will ever see the slightest trace of dust, the most fine almost nonexistent hair or any trace of human presence that has walked in such a scenario. This is extrapolated to urban space where the majestic whitish leather sofa translates into a set of metallic bars that forcefully prevent the occupation of the space. However, the mutable phenomenon drastically disrupts the space outside of the interior design magazines. The mutable goes head-on, being consequently sold as a threat that needs to be eliminated. But the tectonic elements that form the hostile architecture turn into an inflection point that calls out the mutant and rejected materiality. Its elements such as the individual bench, spikes and bars, exemplify the encounter between the dual framework that forms the urban landscape: the controlling universal phenomenon versus the daily unsteady one.

Below, an interview with a homeless man who has remained almost static in the same spot for one year is being presented. By wrapping himself in “decent” materiality, he has built a sort of static street market where he offers a huge variety of products that he gets from the neighbors. He lives right behind such a tonne of random things. Out of respect for the person, his identity and the location of the space won’t be revealed. As the homeless man lives static, the questions have been selected out of interior design magazines where celebrities flaunt their majestic static houses. While this happens, I can afford myself the “pleasure” of writing about the homeless as a white western graduated student. I’m afraid this reinforces my superior standing.