Designs for the Ville Spatiale by Yona Friedman
Monthly Archives: August 2014
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Ottoman miniature from the Surname-i Vehbi (‘Book of Festival’, an album with illustrations depicting celebrations), showing the Column with the three serpent heads, in a celebration at the Hippodrome in 1582.
Maider López
Maider López, ‘Football Field 1’, Sharjah Art Museum, United Arab Emirates (2007)
As part of the Sharjah Biennial, artist Maider López painted the lines of a soccer field red in a public square of Sharjah, adding goals on either end. Because pre-existing features such as benches and streetlamps were not altered, the square became a strange new site for football matches where spectators relaxed on benches inside the pitch at all hours.
Bik Van der Pol
Bik Van der Pol, ‘Up close’ (2014)
For the exhibition ‘The Part In The Story’ Bik Van der Pol decided to bring the sculpture ‘Two Rectangles Vertical Gyrating’ (1971) by George Rickey, and install it laying down on the floor of the exhibition space. This kinetic sculpture, normally installed on Rotterdam’s busy Binnenwegplein, has somewhat of a contested history. After recent renovations of the square causing an elevation of the ground, the blades of the sculpture rotate at a mere 2.11 meters above street level. The sculpture was hence considered a safety hazard because of the danger of it hitting the heads of passers-by. In prevention of any accidents, the sculpture was fenced off in 2012 and temporarily removed later that same year.
A video showing Rickey’s sculpture in action on its old location.
Wolfgang Weileder
‘Slapende meermin’ (2008) by Wolfgang Weileder.
A full-scale copy of the façade of a historical building (named ‘In de meermin – a la sirene’) in Leuven, turned by 90 degrees.
Piero Golia
Piero Golia, ‘It takes a nation of millions to hold us back’ (2003)
The entire façade of a building removed from its original position in Amsterdam and installed in a gallery space in Paris. The work’s title is a reference to the mythical album by the rap band Public Enemy.
Wolfgang Weileder
‘Res Publica’ (2012) by Wolfgang Weileder.
This temporary installation combined three distinct elements. A stainless steel leaflet dispenser was positioned on the pavement outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC. Presented as a miniature Palladian temple based on the proportions the Court building, the dispenser contained an edition of printed plans for making a 1:50 scale architectural cardboard model of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile four cardboard versions of the model were installed at various locations around the city which had associations with privilege and homelessness. These models were deliberately left to the mercy of the weather and the urban environment.
