Tag: space

Ankersentrum (surviving in the ruinous ruin)

Ankersentrum (surviving in the ruinous ruin)

Natascha Süder Happelmann deals with what could be called ruinous spaces. Spaces that have created conditions or facts that are irreversible or irreparable. Natascha Süder Happelmann is of the opinion that some spaces are already ruins at the time of their creation. Their ruinous character is often already inherent in the idea behind them. It is precisely these spaces that Natascha Süder Happelmann seeks out in her quest for the unstable formations of possibility and survival. Throught her collaborative practice Natascha Süder Happelmann’s reassesses the conditions and spaces for artistic action and activates aesthetic research in political and social contexts.

homecomings 1,2,3,etc.

homecomings 1,2,3,etc.

What is lost and what is found in the process of returning home? homecomings revisits, through varying means of translation, spatial and conceptual loci of homecoming within artistic practice. This publication draws its principle inspiration from the architectural and linguistic returns and repetitions punctuating artist Hreinn Friðfinnsson’s House Project and author Georges Perec’s Espèces d’espaces. Testing the concept of “homecomings” against a number of artistic practices, this volume grows out of an imperative to act according to the referentiality hallmarked in the conceptually rigorous works of Friðfinnsson and Perec. The collected contributions oscillate between self-referential modes—creating full-circle loops within singular practices—and far-reaching trajectories, gaining momentum and associations upon every rereading. Like Perec, many works call for an attuned presence, and in so doing, proffer a homecoming at the very site of reading.

Fight-Specific Isola

Fight-Specific Isola

Fight-Specific Isola traces the long history of the Isola area of Milan and the organic, spontaneous progress of the Isola Art Center over the past 12 years. Featuring texts and many images, the book tells the story of an artistic and urban transformation, led by artists, who often had to invent tools and concepts along the way. This publication serves as an example of how to act on the ground in today’s urban condition. Different narratives of history, artistic intervention and action allow the reader to trace the complex idea of collectivity, solidarity and fight-specificity. Testing new terms such as dirty cube and dispersed center this book shows a possible way to respond to the constant pressure of neoliberal development and gentrification.

Prima Che Sia Notte

Prima Che Sia Notte

This monograph has been published in connection with the MAXXI’s Premio Italia Contemporanea prize that Giorgio Andreotta Calò won in 2012 and was developed in collaboration with him focusing on his installation Prima Che Sia Notte. The work of Calò — performative and ephemeral — rests at the intersection of art and architecture. He intervenes on buildings and landscape, appropriating and transforming architecture and space into symbolic and aesthetic experiences. His most significant works include a series of walks that took him 1,600 miles through France, Spain, and Portugal, or 98km along the abandoned coastal train line in Lebanon, or the appropriation of the abandoned parliament building in Sarajevo which he illuminated from sunset to sunrise with an artificial light.