Ice House Detroit is a project bringing awareness to a variety of housing issues in Detroit.

Follow their blog or join their Facebook group.

dala
Durban, South Africa
ongoing project: spaza-de-move-on

In the early 60s ‘café-de-move-ons’ could be seen wherever there were substantial numbers of African workers or passers by in need of refreshment. Vendors were frequently arrested in police raids and fined or imprisoned.

Since apartheid, South Africa witnessed the phenomenon of urbanization. Thousands of workers move daily from the township’s into the cities for their livelihood. This has given rise to the re-birth of the trade in refreshments, loose cigarettes, sweets and chips along pedestrian routes. Similarly these vendors too face victimisation by the powers that be.

The spaza-de-move-on is a design response to the need for an efficient, easily transportable solution for these vendors. Its evolution, involved bottom-up collaboration with Moses Gwiba – a street vendor – who Doung has formed a relationship over a number of years of walking in the city of Durban. His hail “when you make something for me?” sparked the inspiration for this South African solution.

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dala is an interdisciplinary creative collective that believes in the transformative role of creativity in building safer and more liveable cities. dala emerged as a response to the growing need for a sustainable space for creative practitioners actively engaging in the production of art / architecture for social change in eThekwini. dala believes that sustainable change can only happen through democratic participation and collaboration. dala therefore facilitates creative initiatives between creative practitioners from a variety of backgrounds (artists, architects, researchers, performers, urban planners, designers), the municipality and most importantly the people and organisations that live and work within and around the city. dala’s initiatives all revolve around re-imagining the use and expression in and of public space.

Founders, Doung Jahangeer, Rike Sitas and Nontobeko Ntombela have been working on similar initiatives individually and collectively for close to ten years. The strength of dala lies in the interdisciplinary skills the founders bring to the organisation – Doung (architect), Rike (social scientist), Nonto (curator). All three are practicing artists and educators who have been involved in a number of local and international projects and exhibitions.

[Text and graphic from dala website. Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

Here’s the view across the famously restored bridge in Mostar, with two religious pinnacles in competition beyond.  The identity politics of religion are acute in Bosnia, where the carrot of European Union membership hinges on the seemingly impossible formation a “functional state” where power is shared between Bosnians, Serbs and Croats.

A little farther north, near Donji Vakuf, we came across this Tatlin-esque Christian shrine under construction across the valley from a newly erected mosque.

More on recent mosque architecture here.

More on Provisions’ Balkans Project here.

Wunderbar Festival
“Housewarming”
138 St. Lawrence Square
Newcastle England NE6 1SU

“Jorn Ebner and Monica Ross cordially invite you to a housewarming in reverse.

On this site a row of council flats was demolished in 2008 to make way for the Byker South Redevelopment plan. The scheme has recently been shelved due to the current economic crisis – a situation that reflects the fragility of the social housing sector within society.

Housewarming will take place in open space, unsheltered and probably cold. No house stands here and another may or may not again: the artists imply the history of their private occupation of a flat on this site as the basis to host the sharing of social space. Tea, coffee, drinks and snacks will be provided by the artists, but guests are also welcome to contribute refreshments to be shared by all.

Housewarming is produced by Michelle Hirschhorn and supported by Wunderbar Festival, Newcastle City Council, ISIS Arts and the Friends of St. Lawrence Park.”

more on Byker and The Byker Wall:

• BBC on the original Byker Development
• City of Newcastle > Environment and Planning > Regeneration > Ouseburn Byker Sites >St. Lawrence Square

Wunderbar Festival Schedule

[text and graphic from Housewarming Facebook Event page. Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

apexart
291 Church Street
New York, New York

Wednesday, October 28, 6:30 pm
Public Talk:
To New Horizons

Emre Huner, current apexart resident, and Lauren Cornell, Executive Director Rhizome, will discuss utopian constructs, speculative fiction, and the juggernaut of modernism. In their conversation they will touch upon the inspirations for Huner’s latest work from the New York World’s Fair, to the NASA Space Program, and Walt Disney.

Born in Istanbul in 1977, Emre Huner is an artist producing drawing, video and spatial works following different techniques. He now lives and works in Istanbul after being in Milan for eight years. Central to his oeuvre are over technological, industrial progressions and the concept of society of risk in this respect and the themes such as the affinities of the modern man with architecture and nature. Huner creates a common language in his works through using an archive he formed out of various sources such as internet, found out pictures and books.

Lauren Cornell, Executive Director, Rhizome, oversees and develops Rhizome’s programs, all of which serve to promote and contextualize art engaged with technology. Previously, Cornell worked as a curator and writer in London and New York.

Part of apexart’s international resident lecture series.

[text and graphic from apex art website. Caption: "Trylon, Perisphere and Helicline. Photo by Sam Gottscho." Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

Last week I visited an autonomous zone in Albany, CA, near Berkeley, a ‘bulb’ of land that juts into San Francisco Bay– a former dumping ground for demolition debris that is now a post-industrial park administered by squatters.

The ground itself is a by-product of urban redevelopment and its shape strictly utilitarian: a straight road bed leading far enough into the bay to accommodate massive dumping of dirt, hunks of concrete, bricks and contortions of rebar.  It is man-made space, but without the aesthetic utility of Olmstead’s hyper-natural parks or Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Located next to a state-operated racetrack it is a perfect setting for a tale by J. G. Ballard.

More pictures…

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“The conception of this project consistently derives from its underlying architecture – the theoretic conception and visual pattern of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. The Basic idea of narration was to dissolve and break through the strict architecture of O. M. Ungers “Galerie der Gegenwart”. Resultant permeabilty of the solid facade uncovers different interpretations of conception, geometry and aesthetics expressed through graphics and movement. A situation of reflexivity evolves – describing the constitution and spacious perception of this location by means of the building itself.”

Very interesting project that brings a totally new artistic element to architecture and allows buildings to take on a life of their own, much the way paintings or other art media often do. More information at Walker Art Blog.

The Van Alen Institute in New York City is co-sponsoring a discussion with Teddy Cruz and Thomas Keenan focusing on the relationship between architecture, human rights and spatial conditions at the U.S border. 

The basic idea behind the discussion is that, “the U.S. government through the Department of Homeland Security has poured billions of dollars into this region in order to reinforce its surveillance infrastructure. At the same time, the “off-the-radar” flow of human and economic capital between north and south has proven irrepressible, exacerbating political tensions and the disparities of status existing between the two neighbors. At no other urban juncture in the world is it possible to find in such close proximity so volatile a juxtaposition of wealth and poverty, social and cultural similarity and difference, and formal and informal types of urbanism.”

The conversation will take place against the backdrop of the exhibition “The Aesthetics of Crossing” by Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects and Alan Michelson/Kadambari Baxi and Irene Chang. This exhibit focuses on both the physical space and aesthetic dimensions of surveillance and openness at the border, as well as the idea of citizenship and how it relates to design.   

If you are interested in attending the discussion on the 30th, contact the Van Alen Institute at rsvp@vanalen.org.

ABC No Rio, a New York City based center for arts and activism, recently received funding from the City for the construction of a beautiful and environmentally friendly new building. Though the organization is still fundraising (to donate visit the website) in order to realize their bold vision, this is a huge help and shows an impressive commitment the needs of non-profit organizations on behalf of NYC.

Above is the plan for the new building, which along with providing significant gallery and performance space, will “come with new energy and water efficient building-wide systems and an increased capacity for alternative energy use”. It will include the “creation of a green roof; and use of both active and passive solar technologies”.

The architect, Paul Castrucci has come up with a beautiful and very useable design that also embraces the earth-friendly lifestyle that ABC No Rio believes in. The building, when completed, will be a work of art itself. Good luck to ABC No Rio on fundraising and the realization of this amazing design.

Visitors view House Magic @ University of Trash

When Supreme Court judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor, as a junior at Princeton University in 1974, helped design a course on the “History and Politics of Puerto Rico,” the opportunity came as part of a specific moment in the history of American higher education. Starting in the late 1960s, members of the student movement and their allies, frustrated with the hierarchical structure of university education and feeling its content was irrelevant to the pressing issues of the day, began inventing new approaches to learning. Free universities aiming for a radically democratic pedagogy emerged off-campus; many universities, like Princeton, eventually responded by incorporating student-designed courses into their curriculum.

In recent years, artists and activists have made efforts to reclaim this tradition. Drawing on the utopian pedagogy of the 1960s and beyond, The University of Trash, a project by Michael Cataldi and Nils Norman, offers free classes, lectures, screenings, and workshops at SculptureCenter (44-19 Purves Street, Long Island City, New York) from May 10 to August 3. The exhibition consists of an installation, largely made from recycled materials, and the “temporary, makeshift University” for “radical ideas and projects” that will take place within it. Members of the public are invited to propose courses and other events (which might include holding a meeting or band practice or hosting a radio show, curating a film screening or presenting a lecture).

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