SKETCHES TOWARDS A HOUSE OF DIS-CONSENSUS: developing democratic spatial typologies for intercultural cities
MOABIT | BERLIN | GERMANY | 2018
Speculative sketch models, drawings and exhibition by Caroline Vains in residence at ZK/U
With performance by Reem Awad and Nouri Almashhour
Overview: Sketches towards a house of dis-consensus was an exhibition and performance. The exhibition featured a series of speculative utopian architectural maquettes that translated discoveries from the Moving in-to Context project (refer tab on home page) into new democratic spatial typologies with reference to the Ancient Greek Agora, Theatre and Assembly. The exhibition opened with a performance exploring culturally designated gender identity with two newcomer Syrian artists.
Detail: Sketches towards a house of dis-consensus is part of my ongoing research practice into migration, democracy and new narratives. In this research, I use aesthetic means to understand conditions, and develop new narratives around the following topics and ideas: migration, hospitality, refuge, reciprocity, intersubjectivity, co-creation, identity-in-the-making, democracy, and inclusive cities. The exhibition and performance were presented at the Centre for Art & Urban Studies (ZK/U) in Moabit, Berlin, November 2018.
The four marquettes were presented as cornerstone spatial typologies around which to build democratic cities in post-migration futures. They evolved out of a review of the documentation (video, audio and image) of the Moving in-to Context project during which I identified recurring modes of engagement between participants. These modes were then developed in into four civic spatial typologies to support a functioning democracy in a post-migration context. In this development, I drew on the three Ancient Greek democratic typologies of Agora, Theatre, Assembly. A speculative sketch model imagining the City as an archipelago was also developed.
The performance was a collaboration with Reem Awad and Nouri Almashhour. It was a two-part piece exploring and testing culturally designated gender identity with performance-design and live drawing. Reem and Nouri were both involved in the Moving in-to Context project and their piece evolved out of the modes of engagement as they experienced them during the performance-design workshops. Both Reem and Nouri are artists and recent newcomers from Syria, and currently studying at Berlin’s University der Kunst (UdK)
Photos by Caroline Vains and Lutz Lempke
FOUR SKETCH MODELS: developing democratic spatial typologies for intercultural cities (made and photographed by Caroline Vains)
the memorial / the assembly
spatial attributes informing memorial/assembly sketch model: sorry-space, living-archive, chaos (of history, meaning, movement, form), chamber, folly, pavilion, the cover up, labyrinth, critical space, networks (visible, invisible), ancient greek assembly-agora-theater
the market / the agora
spatial attributes informing market/agora sketch model: knot, circle and partial collapse, cluster and cluster dispersing, unification and celebration, meeting space, courtyard, the group, the gathering, space for trade associations and guilds, discursive space, adversarial space, space for building consensus, space of exclusion and inclusion, ancient greek assembly-agora-theater
archipelago / the city
spatial attributes informing archipelago/city sketch model: island, ocean, tide, rip, shallow-deep, ebb-flow, calm-turbulent, flow, hideout, nest, sanctuary, blind spots, factions and interest groups, negotiated space, space of negotiation, space for conflict, space for reconciliation, boundaries, constraints, bridges, connections, links, spaces of separation, integration vs separation/isolation, mobile-nomadic-migrant spaces
empty place/theatre
spatial attributes informing empty place/theatre sketch model: the temporal event, lookout, threshold, stairs, stage, the public demonstration (rally, path, rally), figure vs ground, the whistle blower, the leader, the provocateur, the public address, the debate, speakers corner, space for free speech, space for critical spatial practices, contested space-space of contestation, conflicted space-space of conflict, ancient greek assembly-agora-theater
SKETCH DRAWINGS: studying existing democratic spaces in berlin (drawn and photographed by Caroline Vains)
