Metropolis biennale

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.