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demo:polis, the right to public space 

International workshop and collective exhibition at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin

location
Berlin
year
2015

team

with Giuseppe d'Angelo

The Kulturforum is an archipelago of beautiful architectures that voluntarily do not speak to each other. This aspect is so strong that we could fill the space in between buildings with water and they would keep on working perfectly.

 

As beautiful public cathedrals, these buildings find it hard to relate with the space between them, turning it into wasted, unattractive space.

 

In something that is between a utopian and a dystopian vision, a concrete platform suffocates all the buildings in a white blank, with the intention of underline different aspects of this space.

 

In this pure, untouched element, architectures comes out as clear references. Their isolation is reinforced.

 

This concrete basement, elevated from the ground, force people to detach from the city, landing in a separated island.

 

Underneath this basement, buildings are linked together from a homogeneous space, filled with functions and for this reason crowded with people.

 

But, what does this white basements mean for public space?

 

In a modern society where public space is often sponsored, guided and forced by private entities, filled of subtle or strong references, this utopian view is a calling for an untouched space where people can easily relate or take time to stay alone without being continually stimulated.

The workshop DEMO:POLIS is related to an exhibition of the same name, held in spring 2016 in the Akademie der Künste Berlin. Both investigated the current spectrum and meaning of public space for society and urban planning. Task of the workshop for the FHP team, was to create multiple utopian collages allowing for ambivalence in thinking and observing the site. What sort of utopian thinking is implicit in the idea of a "Kulturforum"? What is already implemented?  What still needs to be teased out?

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