Thank you Nicolas for your post... (to read absolutely!)...

Not practical... but with a sense of humour that we all need when going through the gates...

via: perpetual kid and eyebeam reblog! 

METROPOLIS Biennale in Copenhagen this weekend... highlights!

I renewed with my old love for the theater (which was also the subject of inquiry of my Architect diploma, DPLG 1997… I was then fascinated by the ‘dream manufacturing’ machines of Italian theaters). I listened to Michel Crespin, founder of “Lieux Publics”, presenting along with Yohann Floch, responsible for the international relations in HorsLesMurs, different projects involving spaces, time, bodies and objects, the social fabric and it symbols, to explain that the “arts de la rue” is a multidisciplinary art form that however ephemeral wants to transform cities; “the artist being political in the Greek sense of the term” says Crespin to whom also “La ville est une scène à 360º” (If we consider one plane).

After Christo’s building packages Crespin showed us the work of Xavier Juillot Ritalcalfoul: I particularly liked the airtight packaging (to conserve buildings) of the Royal Saltworks of Arcs et Senans, built by the famous architect of the French revolution, Claude-Nicholas Ledoux, where salt—a very precious preservative at that time—was produced.

Atopia Research did present their research + design services related to Tsunami recovery in Sri Lanka, including ICT infrastructure development, e-learning…:

ATOPIA RESEARCH INC. is a research and design organization that works globally to bring innovation, strategic thinking and design expertise to bear on some of the most intractable complex environmental and social issues that we encounter today, engaging in humanitarian relief projects and conducting research into the interdependence of informatics, economics and ecology. The organization’s mission is both charitable and educational.

The next day I met Jasmine Zimmerman, a NYC artist whose web project meshes different social fabrics together. As she writes in her manifesto:

Art is an encounter. Embodying the uncontainable and elastic nature of contemporary art, The Web Project creates situations that invite spectators to become active participants, in dialogue with both their context and each other. Encompassing the sphere of human interactions and it’s social context, installation sites become convergence points, introducing a time to be experienced and encountered by all walks of life, opening a dialogue that never ends.

I also had a delightful Sunday afternoon watching the movie Hikikomori by Francesco Jodice and Kal Karman and presented by Emiliano Gandolfi, currently the curator of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. What is happening to our cities? And again the classical question: what is the role of architects and designers in times of 'alienation'?

Pix of the session. From left to right; Marc Armengaud, Jane Harrison from Atopia, Emiliano Gandolfi.

Hikikomori? Wikipedia states that:

Hikikomori is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive adolescents and young adults who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement due to various personal and social factors in their lives. The term hikikomori refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general as well as to individuals belonging to this societal group.

Marc Armengaud, founder member of AWP presented the Troll Protocol project, which explores urban strategies at night. The project was organized in collaboration with the City on the Move.

The collaboration of the German designer Stephan Ganz (It is actually his graduating project) and Porsche Design studios and Porsche Design engineering. It allows people with reduced mobility to stand up. What I like about the design it is that the object is both, a mode of transportation and a prosthetis.

Via Dezineo.

Good news for the HomeTEL or for other applications... Check this out: Paper Four, a touch sensitive printed surface...

Pix from website.

I am late with the news... Here is the BBC article: Talking Paper Made by Scientists. (just realized I cropped the image the same way :)

Back from Zurich, where we disscussed the future of the workplace: workplace2010. Thank you to the organizers: Jeffrey Huang, Silke Lang, Alvise Simondetti, Mark Meagher, Isabelle Bentz, Nicolas Nova! Few pictures:

First exercise... everyone had brought a picture of his workplace... to annotate. I like the picture of Roberto Vitalini: "Virtual Companions for Single Workers" ;)

In a team with Mark Meagher and Marc Schmit from Playze!

Working on a platform enabling total flexibility and visualization of the workplace, the workmate and work community. In ligne with some ideas developed in my thesis... taxi-city.

Mobilité et architecture
Exposition de projets pédagogiques
25/05/07 – 15/07/2007

FRAC CENTRE, Orléans

Le projet Mobilité et architecture s’inscrit en lien étroit avec l’Education Nationale et l’Académie d’Orléans-Tours. Il a été mené par le Service des publics du FRAC Centre en 2005-2007 en région Centre, avec une vingtaine d’enseignants et leurs élèves, de la maternelle au supérieur.

Riche de projets d’architectes explorant cette notion, la collection du FRAC Centre a nourri les démarches pédagogiques des enseignants et l’imaginaire des élèves. « Mobilité et architecture » a donné lieu à plusieurs expositions telles Mouvements topographiques, LEGTA, Châteauroux, 2006 ; Mon corps mobile dans l’espace, Lycée Charles Péguy, Orléans, 2006 ; ou encore A pied’œuvre : voyage(s), au Compa, Chartres, 2007. Les ateliers et les rencontres avec des artistes et des architectes (Betty Bui, Claude Parent, François Roche) ont stimulé la réflexion des élèves et aiguisé leur regard critique sur l’architecture contemporaine.

L’exposition Mobilité et architecture, aboutissement de deux années de travail, regroupe les productions des élèves autour de trois axes : « Architecture mobile », « Architecture évolutive », « Déplacement du corps dans l’architecture et l’espace urbain ».
FRAC Centre / Horaires d’ouverture
L’exposition est ouverte du lundi au vendredi, de 10h à 12h et de 14h à 18h. Les week-ends et jours fériés : de 14h à 18h. Visites commentées en semaine sur réservation, les samedi et dimanche à 16h. Entrée libre.

Instant Urbanism- Tracing the Theories of the Situationists in Contemporary Architecture and Urban Design

Until 16 September 2007
Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel

Instant Urbanism draws its inspiration from the radical proclamations made by the Situationist International with relation to transforming architecture and city spaces. The exhibition shows parallels in the field of architecture contemporary to the situationist movement, with groundbreaking experimental and utopian conceptions of urbanism. Numerous projects in architecture and urbanism today will then reveal in practice that which the Situationists developed as urban critique and theory. Installations featuring new work by Ruedi Baur and Citámbulos of Mexico City will implement the strategy of the “dérive” in contemporary urban design.

Featuring: DÉRIVE / DÉTOURNEMENT / URBAN ACTION / SPORTIFICATION / URBAN NOMADISM / CROSS-PROGRAMMING / ARCHITECTURAL HYBRIDS / ATMOSPHERES / INTERVENTIONS / MODULAR STRUCTURES / BRICOLAGE / PARKOUR / VIRAL ARCHITECTURE / HI SPEED URBANISM / TURBO ARCHITECTURE

Magazine: S AM No.2: INSTANT URBANISM the accompanaying publication is out in August 2007. Information: www.merianverlag.ch

Special Events: "WALL IS A SCREEN" two filmic dérives in Basel: 22. + 23.06.2207, 22 h. Information: www.stadtkinobasel.ch

Partner/ Partners: Museum Tinguely, Stadtkino Basel, Landkino, Zumtobel, roth gerüste, Truninger, Konnex, Lotteriefonds Basel-Stadt, Lotteriefonds Basel-Landschaft

S AM
Swiss Architecture Musem
Steinenberg 7
Postfach 911
CH - 4001 Basel

tel. +41 (0)61 261 14 13
fax. +41 (0)61 261 14 28

info@sam-basel.org
www.sam-basel.org

(via the Bartlett listing)