Rirkrit Tiravanija, ‘Dom-ino’ (1998)
In Rirkrit Tiravanija’s replica of the Dom-ino concept (1915) by le Corbusier, the spectator becomes the inventer and the actor of his own environment, in the interaction with his fellow visitor. The lower platform is equipped with a CD and cassette player, a TV, a kitchen corner with table and butagaz-cooker, a low table with poufs. The visitors are invited to use the house as they wish, and to share what they bring or find with the others.
Simon Starling, ‘Inverted Retrograde Theme, USA (House for a Song bird)’ (2002)
This installation references a housing project in Puerto Rico which was designed by Austrian architect Simon Schmiderer (1911-2001) in the 1960s. Schmiderer developed a series of houses made of building blocks without doors or windows to further integrate the outside and inside spaces, but the rise of crime in the 1970s forced locals to add elaborate barriers onto Schmiderer’s designs. In Inverted Retrograde Theme, USA, Simon Starling recreates two of the existing homes on a smaller scale and inverts them like birdcages; these models sit atop tree trunks that extend from the gallery’s floor.
‘Cosmopolitan Chicken Project’ (1999-ongoing) by Koen Vanmechelen.
Vanmechelen interbreeds domestic chickens from different countries aiming at the creation of a true cosmopolitan chicken.
