Over the course of two years and entirely self-motivated, Roland Roos repaired damaged objects in public and semi-public spaces. Without anyone asking him to, he restored a broken „Denner“ supermarket neon sign to its original condition in Zurich, in Lucerne he fixed a defective doorbell, in Warsaw he renovated the parking lot markings on some cobblestones, which had been disarranged by road works and in Berlin he repaired a damaged cupboard, which had been abandoned in the street. Roos acted in the capacity of a handyman no-one had ever called for. The owners or users of the previously damaged and now suddenly fixed objects did not get any explanations about the free repairs.
The situations and condition before and after the interventions were documented with photographs. These two-piece photographic works are for sale. The price of 320 Swiss francs each corresponds to the average costs of material and expenses for the amount of work involved for one repair job. «Free Repair» comprises 100 repair jobs in more than 20 cities. The project started in April 2008 in Bratislava and was concluded in March 2010 in Warsaw.
The video below shows a ORF reportage of the last free repair (german only).
