Valparaiso School / Open City Group
Open City
Since 1950 the avant-garde architect Alberto Cruz has had such a defining influence on the Faculty of Architecture at the Catholic University in ValparaÃso that the phrase ValparaÃso School was soon coined. Out of this work emerged in 1070 the anonymous group “Open City Group”. Architects, students, artists and scientists went on to form the Open City outside the town of ValparaÃso. They chose the word “open” to convey their unique attitude to dialogue and work where members of the collective are the architects, the inhabitants and also the clients – and also to show their experimental form of architecture which included erecting 1:1 size models! “Open” also refers to the act of creating and confronting oneself with an unknown result. Architectural solutions emerge from the dialogue between architects from different schools with architects from different schools with artists, scientists, painters, sculptors and writers. In this way many highly expressive buildings have been created.
Jun
1
12:10
Kontakt
Kontakt. The Art Collection of Erste Group explores art production in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe with a special emphasis on contemporary art discourses and critical theory. Kontakt reflects the political transformation in Europe and the significance of art before the background of specific cultural, social and economic developments in the post-socialist countries. Its aim is to develop a collection with a sound art-historical and conceptual basis that deals with artistic positions rooted in a specific location and context that has long been neglected by many museums despite this art’s international credentials. This endeavor causes displacements within the existing canon of the most recent art history and opens new opportunities for the positioning of artistic activity.
May
30
18:24
Junk Jet
Junk Jet is a zine-jet, a collaborative format set up to discuss speculative works on topics of architectures, media, aesthetics, and on electronics. It is an irregular lö-fi paper publication (including irrational special gifts) on a non-cömmercial scale edited by Asli Serbest and Mona Mahall and published by their own igmade.edition.
Junk Jetis interested in counter works (and counter counter works) of counter aesthetics, tunnelling practices that show lack of any irony or fiction. It is about wild forms and found objects, about weird theories and (small) narratives, anti-fashions and non-styles, about exploring do-it-yourself works, accidental outcomes, deviant and normal aesthetic forms that result from jammed common practices, misused media, and subverted customary tools. It is about cultivating an anti heart by “introducing noise to signal”. Whereas n°1 °.° was focused on the topic of music, or better: noise, n°2 °.° is especially into architectural and spatial works. The n°3 °.° flux us! flux you! issue focused on temporary types, on stable happenings and unstable thoughts: boogie buildings, rolling rocks, flying architectures, provisory pyramids, lifted cellars and dug in landmarks, curtains, mobiles, house boats, bubbles, zeppelins, flying saucers …
May
25
23:10
Hackitectura
Composed by Pablo de Soto, Sergio Moreno Páez and Jose Perez de Lama (aka osfa), hackitectura.net is a group of architects and programmers developing projects and theoretical research in the intersecting field of space, electronic flows and social networks. Hackitectura.net stresses the use of real time communication, free software, collaborative work and the emancipatory use of technologies.
Their work has dealt with the creation of connected, participatory public spaces and infrastructures, including projects such as Indymedia Estrecho (2003-present; in collaboration with a wide network of social movements in Southern Spain and Northern Africa), La Multitud Conectada (Huelva 2003), Fadaiat (a transborder medialab and event between Tarifa and Tangier, 2004 & 2005), Geografías Emergentes (Extremadura, 2007), Situation Room (Laboral, Gijon, 2008) and GISS (2005-present; a global freesoftware videostreaming server network by Sergio Moreno and GISS team).
In 2006, hackitectura.net developed the concept of WikiPlaza? to win the Plaza de las Libertades – international competition (with Morales de Giles Arquitectos and Esther Pizarro), to build a 30.000 sqm public space and cultural building incorporating the free software community experiences of the last decades to a civic building in Sevilla, Spain. Two different prototypes of the project are scheduled to be implemented in Paris (Wikiplaza-Paris, may 2009) and at the Sevilla Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo (october 2008).
Hackitectura.net’s publications include the books “Fadaiat. Libertad de movimiento/ libertad de conocimiento” (2006 – Spanish, English and Arab) and “Devenires cíborg. Arquitectura, urbanismo y redes de comunicación” (by Jose Pérez de Lama, 2006 – Spanish).
May
24
15:54
Altering Practices Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space
This volume addresses the question of how interdisciplinary feminist thought and contemporary practice can inform architectural debate on the use and meaning of space.
This collection of essays addresses and defines the state of contemporary theories and practices of space: it is concerned with the growing importance of technology and communications, the effects of globalization, and the change of social demands. Within the current urban and geopolitical contexts, it addresses the emergence of new social and political theories that raise questions of identity and difference in modern society. The book iterates feminist concerns with space from the critical stance of the new millennium. With contributions from the leading theorists and thinkers from around the world representing the fields of architecture, art, philosophy and gender studies, this book has a truly international and interdisciplinary reach.
May
21
18:19
Jon Broome Architects
http://www.jonbroome.co.uk/files/5.img.jpg
Jon Broome Architects design homes which incorporate cost effective and trouble free measures which can significantly reduce environmental impacts within the budget for mainstream housing. Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 and beyond within current cost limits.
Jon Broome Architects innovations include modular, low-cost, timber frame houses designed and built by groups of council tenants and other community groups. These dwellings were the product of a participatory process and are very adaptable.
May
20
12:56
CULTURE, NOT PROFIT: READINGS FOR ARTWORKERS THE JOURNAL OF FREE / SLOW UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW VOL. 1, 2009
The present and the first Volume is a recap on the 212 working days of the Free/Slow University of Warsaw during the first year of its activity. Internal diversity of the Volume corresponds to the mode of operation of our para-institution, which experiments with various avenues of knowledge production and exchange. The subject of the first edition of the Free/Slow University of Warsaw was “culture not for profit.” We referred to the tradition of free education, with a focus on establishing an environment that would enable critical reflection not only on culture, but also on its social, political and economic background. We made an attempt at a theoretical and practical research of the conditions of knowledge and culture production in the late capitalism, an analysis of the life conditions of activists, artists and cultural operators as well as at exerting an impact on the cultural policy and participating in debates on the current and the future shape of our societies.
May
8
21:46
The polish edition of EUROPEAN CULTURAL POLICIES 2015. A REPORT WITH SCENARIOS ON THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC FUNDING FOR CONTEMPORARY ART IN EUROPE
In 2015 art is almost completely instrumentalised in the economic sense, regardless of whether financing is private or public. Art then services either national or European interests that wish to construct a certain identity: it is a desirable marketable commercial good for private ownership and it contributes to regional development and provides society with new creative employment opportunities. Visiting art institutions is a popular, easily digested leisure activity. In 2015 art can be used to stave off undesirable fascistic and nationalistic tendencies in society. This is one side of the coin, according to the eight contributors to European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe…The other side of the coin is a development towards a more critically oriented art, which has found its own ways and means and established self-supporting micro-systems. This art is not necessarily adapted for exhibitions and other established institutional formats, and it is an important factor in civil society. It also encompasses more forms of collaboration than does present-day art.
May
8
21:42
roomservices
roomservices
roomservices is an interventionist research institute for practice-based and experimental design projects, transgressing the borders between DIY urbanity, social re-organization, design co-location, artistic research, applied sociogeography, social and entrepreneurial enablement and art practice. The projects of roomservices reflect wide inquisitiveness for experimenting tools and techniques, providing a different viewpoint, or just celebrating the differences in everyday life by revealing their varied shades under new light. roomservices (Evren Uzer & Otto von Busch) researches on social and subconstructive design, community participation and risk mitigation, sociograms and viral ontologies, cultural heritage and fashion, earthquakes and crafts.
Mar
21
02:15
[STEALTH.unlimited]
STEALTH.unlimited (set up in 2000 by Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen) is a practice based between Rotterdam and Belgrade. STEALTH shape opportunities where various fields of investigation meet and where thinking about possible future(s) of the city are mobilized. We consider space both a tool and an agency, and focus on innovative aspects of sometimes hidden, temporary or unplanned urban practices that challenge ways in which to create physical aspects of the city and of its culture. In this, shifts of perspectives – from visual culture, urban research, spatial intervention, to cultural activism – are a key element. By creating devices that can take the form of a specific intervention in physical space, an occasion for exchange of knowledge, but also a piece of software, we produce test conditions to probe the shared authoring of urban space and culture.
Mar
17
02:35