Workshop carried out by Raumlabor
10-14.10.2011
IDENSITAT, in collaboration with Can Xalant and ACVic Centre d’Arts Contemporànies, launched an open call to participate in the workshop Spaces, Transits and Mobile Devices, led by the collective Raumlabor from Berlin [Andrea Hofmann, Axel Timm, Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius, Francesco Apuzzo, Jan Liesegang, Markus Bader y Matthias Rick].
The Spaces, Transits and Mobile Devices workshop formed part of the project Ceci n'est pas une voiture, curated by Martí Peran, organised in collaboration with Can Xalant. Centre de Creació i Pensament Contemporani de Mataró, ACVic Centre d’Arts Contemporànies and IDENSITAT, and was realised in collaboration with Cercle Artístic Sant Lluc, Ajuntament de Barcelona. Institut de Cultura and CoNCA. The project began as an exercise in documentation and reflection on the construction of mobile artifacts as elements for an expanded concept of, or as an alternative to, the Museum.
Description of the workshop, by Raumlabor
We are interested in cities as spaces of activity. Urban identity arises primarily/originates from the identification of oneself in relation to the city.
In the past, a gipsy caravan would come to our village every other year with a number of old trailers and a big tent. Travelling all over the country, they always carried the latest inventions from place to place. They brought strange food, spices from far away, the strongest man, a prophet woman and a mirror in which you could see your soul. The people in the village were very excited by their arrival, but also very scared. This nomadic free life somehow questioned our quiet and ordered community to its foundations. After three or four weeks, when the Caravan left, there was always someone missing from the village, and quite a few others had difficulties in returning to their everyday routine.
We wanted to approach the idea of a mobile museum in a somewhat similar way. What obstacles might we face in travelling from site to site in these days? What was the role of collectivity in our ‘post-everything’ society? What should happen in a mobile museum, transporting content and meaning from one place to another? How could we question our everyday routines? What could be that mirror in which we see ourselves at our best potential? What kind of art could be exhibited in a mobile museum?
The mobile museum we aimed to design consists of single mobile structures. Each structure would function independently but in combination with, and in relation to, the others, creating a new kind of museum and possibilities for a temporary redefinition of public space. In the workshop we created a 1:5 model and drawings of this new museum. The participants formed different groups, each of which developed one mobile unit which could work independently and also be combined as the mobile museum. The results were exhibited at the exhibition Esto no es un museo. Artefactos móbiles al acecho (this is not a museum, mobile devices lurking), (October 2011 to January 2012).
Aims of the workshop
- To combine spatial observation and social research, in order to gain knowledge of aspirations, necessities and shortages in the district of Santa Caterina, Barcelona.
- To project models of mobile devices, responding to research outcomes.
- To establish a dialogue between participants and to promote co-operative proposals.
- To question the conventional idea of museum as institution, and reformulate the functions of the exhibition display as a nomadic platform nurturing direct and self-managed participation, development of social research and dissemination of educational experiences.
Participation
The workshop was open to artists, architects, designers, educators, cultural managers, historians, social workers, and students of sociology, anthropology, art, architecture, design, education, as well as individuals with interests related to culture and public space.
Workshop tutors
Raumlabor Raumlabor (Berlin) began working on issues of contemporary architecture and urbanism in 1999 In various interdisciplinary working teams, investigating strategies for urban renewal. Raumlabor performs urban design, architectural design, constructions, interactive environments, research. Francesco Apuzzo, Markus Bader, Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius, Andrea Hofmann, Jan Liesegang, Christoph Mayer, Matthias Rick and Axel Timm are partners in raumlaborberlin .
The Spaces, Transits and Mobile Devices workshop was carried out by the following members of Raumlabor:
Frauke Gerstenberg, born in Berlin in 1968, she studied Architecture in Berlin (UDK, School of Arts Berlin) and Barcelona (ETSAB/ Miralles). She graduated from the UDK Berlin with a Diploma (Masters) in 1998 and was awarded the Prize for Best Diploma (Masters) Thesis. Between 1999 and 2003 she worked for Sauerbruch Hutton Architects in Berlin. She has taught at the TU München from 2003 until 2009 and has published several books about experimental housing. Since 2003 she has cooperated with raumlaborberlin.
Jan Liesegang, born in Cologne in 1968, he studied Architecture in Berlin (TU Berlin), Copenhagen (Kunstakademie) and New York (Cooper Union, School of Architecture). He graduated from the TU Berlin with a Diploma (Masters) in 1997 and was awarded the Prize for Best Diploma (Masters) Thesis. Between 1998 and 2001 he worked for Sauerbruch Hutton Architects in Berlin. In 1999 he co-founded raumlaborberlin. He has been teaching at the Art Academy, Stuttgart from 2001 till 2008. In 2010 he carried out a study visit at the German academy Villa Massimo in Rome.
Dr. Phil. Katja Szymczak, art historian, born in Bad Orb in 1970, has studied art history and politics in Berlin (TU Berlin). She graduated in art history in 2005. Between 2007 and 2010 she worked for Bauhaus Dessau, as production manager of the exhibition Modell Bauhaus (Berlin, New York) 2010. Since 2010, she has been working as exhibition manager at Martin-Gropius-Bau. Editor of the catalogue *Raisonée* *with paintings of Horst Antes* and the Hoffmann Collection, Berlin . She is a specialist in art and architecture of the 20th ad 21st century and has collaborated with raumlaborberlin since 2005, in various projects such as Utopie 18 and Spacebuster.
Matthias Rick, architect, born in Versmold in 1965, he studied architecture in Berlin (TU Berlin). Assistant to Prof Horst Antes between 1998 and 2001. He founded the Institute for Applied Building Arts, Berlin 1997. He has been a member of raumlaborberlin since 2002. He is a professor in architecture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (2009-2011).
The Spaces, Transits and Mobile Devices workshop is an initiative by IDENSITAT in collaboration with Can Xalant and ACVic, Centre d’Arts Contemporànies. It has the support of Institut de Cultura (Ajuntament de Barcelona), Consell Nacional de la Cultura i de les Arts (Generalitat de Catalunya), Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc and Hangar.
IDENSITAT is an artistic project that investigates ways to influence public space through creative proposals in relation to places and territories, from the physical and social dimensions. The organisation is established as a production and research network which, through art, experiences new ways of involvement and interaction with social contexts.
