c i t y t r a i l e r
Conception
The city is a body
John of Salisbury
The project is concerned with the observation and analysis of living spaces, environment and nature with regard to the phenomenon of ‘city’. This means to produce images, which move between the virtual and the real of a city.
Cities provide points of reference, levels of perception and reception for their residents, who define their habitat. These spaces of identity are partial spaces, which are interconnected to the cultural and historical developments, myths and the systems of order and economy of the city. Our local identities are marked by the cultural past and perceptions of the present.
The citizen of the Polis of Athens identified with his city. The inhabitant of a mediaeval town in France called himself bourgeois and Bürger in Germany. Spaces of identity are open spaces, in which different people meet for exchange. They are defined by these open spaces. The public space plays a crucial role in this respect. Those spaces differ from the orientation spaces of the tourists. Landmarks for the tourists are mostly museums, architecture, railway stations, sights.
The visitors to a city, tourists are collectors. They collect images, city vistas, impressions of people, worldviews. These images are synthetic. They are codifiable and exchangeable .
The empoverishment of the senses are a problem of our time. Have today’s inhabitants of our cities lost their spaces of identity? Our city environment plays an important role. At present we measure our urban spaces through the time it takes to cross and leave them. Our daily life if filled with efforts to deny, reduce, repress, and avoid conflicts. The residents of a city are dispersed. They meet in shopping malls for the purpose of consumption.
The project c i t y t r a i l e r motivates students from different cities to produce short video clips about the images they have of their city. The DVDs will be exchanged. The original idea was that the participants of the individual project groups send their films to the other project groups, so that the totality of the project could be publicly screened at all the Higher Education institutions involved. This idea is still valid. However, in the meantime something extraordinary has happened. The project was selected by the committee of the 22. World Congress of Architects, which will take place in Istanbul in 2005.
We are absolutely delighted, not least because art and architecture students will work jointly on this very pertinent theme and within the same medium – video.
We trust that the project has opened up a new dimension of discourse amongst students in European institutions of Higher Education and wish all participants new impulses and every success for the project.
The project City Trailer was an iniative of Professor Azade Köker, Institut für Elementares Formen, Fakultät Architektur, TU Braunschweig, FB Architektur, Germany
It was presented at the UIA 2005 Istanbul Congress, May 5th 2005 at tarik zafer tunaya kültür merkezi.
participating institutions:
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Germany
Kunstakademie Münster, Germany
Burg Giebichenstein Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle, Germany
University Thessaly, Greece
Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece
School of Art and Design University of Ulster, Northern Ireland
Universidade Lisboa de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Portugal
Universitdade Lisboa, Faculdade de Belas-Artes, Portugal
The trip was organized in the context of the “Architectural Design” course and 3rd year students have participated. It included visits in the historical centre of Madrid, important public buildings and building blocks as well as contemporary cultural infrastructures. During the educational trip the participants visited the architectural school of Madrid (ETSAΜ). In cooperation with the professor Emmanuel Prada and the architect Eduardo Vadillo Ruiz, visits in contemporary civil works and urban interventions as well as social housing blocks took place.
Paradigmata: Aristide Antonas, Hariklia Hari, Philippos Oraiopoulos, and Zafos Xagoraris
Greece participated in the 9th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale with an exhibition entitled Paradigmata. The installation presents the results of a series of workshops organized during the summer of 2004 in Greece by a team of architects and artists: Aristide Antonas, Hariklia Hari, Philippos Oraiopoulos, and Zafos Xagoraris. The exhibition is on view at the Greek Pavilion in the Giardini, through November 7, 2004. Paradigmata introduces in a free presentation the results of a series of four workshops held throughout July and August 2004 in Athens, Cyprus, Nicosia and other locations throughout Greece. The group of workshop participants included architects, artists, professors, curators, anthropologists, and other specialists, who engaged in theoretical discussion as well as presented architectural and art research and projects. This ongoing discourse took place at various sites (many of which holding cultural and historical significance), including a refugee¹s settlement, a mosque, an artificial lake, the Nicosia Airport, and an observation tower in Cyprus.
The project team for Paradigmata have adopted the modern and ancient meanings of the word Œparadigm¹ to illustrate the thematic gathering, comparison, and distribution of people, data, hypotheses, interpretations, texts, plans and strategies leading up to and taking place during the 9th International Architecture Exhibition. In an attempt to provide an oral aspect of architecture, the paradigms embody transitional spaces of contemporary architectural thought and practice, diffusing the written into the verbal, the built into the unbuilt. These paradigms will culminate at the Greek Pavilion in Venice where they will be distributed freely in printed form, and presented alongside other more tangible forms of theoretical discourse.
Workshop organised by the Department of Architecture.
publication in greek
1st Do.Co.Mo.Mo conference
Series of summer workshops organised in Chania, Crete.
2011 The Value of Garbage
http://www.kamworkshops.com/the_value_of_garbage/
http://the-value-of-garbage.tumblr.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/collections/72157627465915702/
2010 The Bankruptcy of Architecture
http://www.kamworkshops.com/2010/
http://the-bankruptcy-of-architecture.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/collections/72157624620710239/
2009 Shelves
http://www.kamworkshops.com/2009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/collections/72157627452888121/
2008 Super Market
http://www.kamworkshops.com/files/KAM_poster_2008.pdf
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/collections/72157605602144950/
2007 Hospi-Table
http://www.kamworkshops.com/2007/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/collections/72157605723915431/
2006 WaterTank and River Bed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antonas/sets/72157605931534254/
2005 2 Bridges
http://2bridgesbuiltevent.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/sets/72157602360469669/
2004 Paradigmata
2003 Limit wall
2002 Factory
http://www.kamworkshops.com/files/KAMworkshops_2002-2006.pdf
Participants
CHRISTINA ACHTYPI, ANDREAS ANGELIDAKIS, ANTOINETTA ANGELIDI, DIMITRIS ANTONAKAKIS, AIKATERINI ANTONAKAKI, ARISTIDE ANTONAS, ORESTIS ARGYROPOULOS, YANNIS ARVANITIS, ANGELIKI AVGHITIDOU, ELINA AXIOTI, BOUKI BABALOU, ANDREA BALESTRERO, ETHEL BARAONA POHL, IRO BERTAKI, VASSILIS BOURDAKIS, ELIAS CONSTANTOPOULOS, SHUMON BASAR, MICHELE BRUNELLO, RICCARDO CALDURA, ARIS COHEN, KOSTAS DAFLOS, ALEXIS DALLAS, DIMITRIS DIMITRIADIS, DIMOS DIMITRIOU, ΜATTEO GHIDONI, DIMITRIS GOURDOUKIS, DIVERCITY, PANOS DRAGONAS, YANNIS FILIS, ANGELOS FLOROS, ANITA HACKETHAL, HARIKLEIA HARI, VILMA HASTAOGLOU, KOSTAS HATDJIKIRIAKOU, DIMITRIS ISSAIAS, PLATON ISSAIAS, MANUEL JORANT BRIQUETTE, NADIA KALARA, ELINA KARANASTASI, APOSTOLOS KALFOPOULOS, ELINA KARANASTASI, KERNEL, ZISSIS KOTIONIS, ANDREAS KOURKOULAS, PANOS KOUROS, KATERINA KOUTSOGIANNI, LAMB AND LAMP, VASSILIKI LEONTARI, EVA MANIDAKI, FOTINI MARGARITI, PETROS MARTINIDIS, POLIXENI MATZIOU, KOSTIS MAVRAKAKIS, PETROS MORIS, THANASSIS MOUTSOPOULOS, ΒERT DE ΜUYNCK, NIKOS NAVRIDIS, IOANNIS OIKONOMOU, FILIPPOS OREOPOULOS, NIKOS PATSAVOS, GEORGIOS PANETSOS, PANAYOTIS PANGALOS, KOSTIS PANIGIRIS, KONSTANTINOS PANTAZIS, LOIS PAPADOPOULOS, SPIROS PAPADOPOULOS, TITI PAPADOPOULOU, EVA PAPAMARGARITI, CHRISTOS PAPOULIAS, NIKOS PATSAVOS, VASSILIKI PETRIDOU, LILI PEZANOU, PETROS PHOKAIDES, MARIOS PHOCAS, ANGELO PLESSAS, DIMITRIS POLYCHRONOPOULOS, PANAYOTA PYLA, POINT SUPREME, CAROLINE RASPÉ, MARIANNA RENTZOU, ELPIDA RIKOU, ALCYSTIS RODI, LORENZO ROMITO, RENA SAKELLARIDOU, TASSOS SAKELLAROPOULOS, EVI SOUGKARA, ELENI SPIRIDAKI, DIMITRIS STAMATAKIS, YANNIS STAVRAKAKIS, EVA STEFANI, VASSILIS STROUMBAKOS, CHRISANTHI SOTIROPOULOU, NIKOLAS TRAVASAROS, DIMITRIS TSAKALAKIS, CHRISOSTOMOS TSIMOURDANGAS, YORGOS TZIRTZILAKIS, REA VALDEN, ARISTOMENIS VAROUDAKIS, YANNIKOS VASILOULIS, STAVROS VERGOPOULOS, VANGELIS VLAHOS, ARIADNE VOZANI, MARIA VRONTISI, SOFIA VYZOVITI, ZAFOS XAGORARIS, GIORGOS XIROPAIDIS, PEGY ZALI, IOANNIS ZAVOLEAS
(Barcelona _ May 2002, July 2003, April 2004)
The trip was organized in the context of the “Architectural Design” course and 3rd year students have participated. It included visits in important historical buildings, new constructions and building blocks as well as contemporary cultural infrastructures. During the educational trip two visits in architectural schools took place (ETSAB, ESARQ) and lectures were given by the professors: Maria Goula, Maria Rubertand Alberto Estévez. Additionally, cooperating with architects Enric Serraand Fermín Vázquez, the participants visited contemporary civil works and housing blocks.
Maria Papadimitriou, Temporary Autonomous Museum for All (T.A.M.A), National Participation at the 25th Bienal De São Paulo.
Commissioner: Efi Strousa.
The Greek proposition for "Metropolitan Iconographies".
Greece is to participate in the 25th Bienal of São Paulo, to be held from March 23 to June 2, 2002 with the theme “Metropolitan Iconographies”, with Maria Papadimitriou’s Τ.Α.Μ.Α. (Temporary Autonomous Museum for All). The Commissioner for the Greek participation is art historian Efi Strousa. The Greek presence in Brazil is financed and organised by the Ministry of Culture.
The theme of the 25th Bienal of São Paulo, “Metropolitan Iconographies”, provides an opportunity for an international showing of a very interesting ongoing project initiated four years ago at Avliza, the settlement of a nomadic Vlach-Rumanian community near Athens.
The Τ.Α.Μ.Α. (Temporary Autonomous Museum for All) is the potential result of the artist’s involved research and action around one of the most crucial concerns of contemporary art—the artists’ relation with the urban environment.
In this work Maria Papadimitriou emphasises the social role of the artist, channelling her creativity into the core of the acute problems arising from the contrasts between centre and periphery, high and low social strata and the lack of social structures to deal with the multicultural character of the metropolis.
Contemporary art keeps drawing from the constantly changing, contradictory picture of the city. The effectiveness of the artistic presence is not necessarily measured by the scale of a sculptural or architectural project but by the quality of the artistic act and the degree of sensitivity through which a social and physical space may assume a more essential role in the overall social development.
On the one hand the work of Papadimitriou reveals the weak points of the city’s social structure; on the other hand, it sheds light on the daily existence of the people in an area where, for all its utter destitution, life goes on in its own creative way.
The Temporary Autonomous Museum for All is based on the value of inventiveness, being open to propositions and ideas by artists, architects and people from the realm of arts and letters who respond to the call to contribute to alternative ways of action and perceive life as developing through a course between fixed and changing structures; in this way the ‘temporary’ becomes an ‘autonomous’ field of creativity.
The T.A.M.A. is the sum of the activities of Maria Papadimitriou in collaboration with her volunteer associates and the people of Avliza, aimed at designing and realising an infrastructure which would improve their standards of living. This resulted in designs for various spaces, open or indoor, such as modular homes, buildings for children’s creative activities, recreation and guest facilities, kiosks, etc., offered by the T.A.M.A. to the Roma community in a primary form and the inhabitants themselves are left free to complete them according to their own aesthetics.
Over the last two months that Maria Papadimitriou has been working on the presentation of the project at the 25th Bienal de Sao Paulo, a parallel effort was initiated to find sponsors to undertake the realisation of some of the T.A.M.A. structures proposed by a team of architects, who were amongst the first supporters of the artist’s idea. The T.A.M.A., which aims for broad social participation, is gradually becoming a reality thanks to positive response from cultural institutions and individuals from the art world. Up to this moment, some of the most prestigious art-lovers and organizations, such as ALPHA BANK, Mr. Prodromos Emfietzoglou (art collector), Ms. Anny Costopoulou (artist and art collector), Mr. Dakis Joannou (art collector), Prof. Constantinos Papagheorghiou (art collector) have already adhered to the idea of the T.A.M.A. and will contribute by offering the means for the realization of some of the structures proposed in the project. At the same time, an ever increasing number of young artists and people from various disciplines are supporting it by their active participation.
The Ministry of Culture has already responded by undertaking one of the projects, the Kiosque à Culture by Brazilian artist Fabiana de Barros, which was warmly received by the community and has been taken over by the children who engage in creative activities with Maria Papadimitriou.
The artist shall use the 100 sq. m. available at the São Paulo Bienal to convey her experience from Avliza and the Roma community through a visual environment with video projection, photo lambda prints and everyday objects and elements typical of the aesthetic of the community, music, architectural propositions and evidence from the realisation of the projects.
This lively and colourful staging shall present the history of the community and its encounter with contemporary art within the broader physical and social context of a big city. Another part of the project is the virtuoso clarinet player Yorghos Mangas, who will be seen performing in a video made by Maria Papadimitriou.
The Greek participation in the 25th Biennale of Sao Paolo is accompanied by a] catalogue in the form of a book [in Greek, Portuguese and English], as it records the contributions of the first participants with texts, artworks, ideas, proposed buildings and infrastructure projects (see next page).
On the occasion of the opening of the Biennale, the European countries will hold a joint feast-reception at a public building in the city centre on Wednesday, March 20.
Duration:
23 March – 2 June, 2002
Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion
Fundação Bienal, Portão 3, Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo
Organised by:
Ministry of Culture
General Directorate of Cultural Development
Fine Arts Division
Commissioner:
Efi Strousa