The City of Dream and Future
The City of Dream and Future was a three month performance art research project for the district
Dongjak in Seoul. It took place between the 1st of September 2011 and
the 27th of November 2011.
The City of dream and Future encompasses one month of observation in public places, one month of developing an Action Pack for Seoul, while at the same time every evening the neighborhood was invited to practice a performance score already, a workshop for people who are interested in a social-poetical practice, a durational site-specific performance in the district, short interventions in the district and an exhibition at Space MASS.
The City of Dream and Future was initiated from the German performance artist Ilka Theurich and organized in co-operation with Space MASS.
The City of Dream and Future questioned our behavior of encounter in public places, and tried to develope a social-poetical practice in performance art. The aim of the project was: To activate the neighborhood, for participation in the process of town planning.
My thesis was, that the moment of a poetic encounter may irritate, disclose, or unsettle, but at the same time has the potential to be a stimulus to the public space and the residents. This moment has the power to activate, to give shape to public places through actions, and to creat space for shared human experiences.
The 4th international Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2009) tried to answer the questions: How to live together? How to share the resources and opportunities cities offer?
The 12th Architecture Biennale Venice (2010) tried to figure out how people meet in architecture and asked what has architecture to do with the relationships among human beings. And how important is the work of an architect? "Architecture is the stage where we all play theatre," says Ivan Rijavec, curator of the Australian pavilion. "And of course this is important, because this environment determines how we play this living theatre". Kazuyo Sejima (director in 2010) hoped that the audience "...really come in touch with the architecture..." To be honest, I think that we will not find the answers of all theses questions in the topic of architecture but maybe in the act of the city residence themselves.
The
Polish pavilion in Venice, was based entirely on risk - “participate at
your own risk”. In the installation "Emergency Exit" the visitors were
invited to jump three feet into the abyss. Simply to leave the
over-regulated system of the city and to find their own back-door. This
is the message of the two artists Agnieszka Kurant and Aleksandra
Wasilkowska. "People want to discover their own city," says Kurant.
"This is our response to the biennale theme: People meet in
architecture. People want to meet in places they find themselves. You do
not want to leave that decision by urban planners and architects.”
Kurant and Wasilkowska do not believe that people are interested to meet
in places which have been specially designed for them.
In my performances for example I am searching for moments in everyday life where a poetic encounter could arise. A moment of an intense experience, a moment where I can become one with the world of the other and a moment where the encounter will be saved in my body as a trace. The encounter, which I would ground performance art on, is one of an energetic flow. I want to describe a perceptual state that occurs beyond a rational organizational and experiential encounter. Personally I explore in performance art a form of attention, namely the moment of encounter as an aesthetic category. For me the moment when the encounter occurs, is the purest form of an aesthetic of existence. Based on this moment of encounter and in the spirit of Paul Watzlawick's saying 'You can not not communicate', I would like to continue and point out 'but you can forget to act'.
The City of dream and Future encompasses one month of observation in public places, one month of developing an Action Pack for Seoul, while at the same time every evening the neighborhood was invited to practice a performance score already, a workshop for people who are interested in a social-poetical practice, a durational site-specific performance in the district, short interventions in the district and an exhibition at Space MASS.
The City of Dream and Future was initiated from the German performance artist Ilka Theurich and organized in co-operation with Space MASS.
The City of Dream and Future questioned our behavior of encounter in public places, and tried to develope a social-poetical practice in performance art. The aim of the project was: To activate the neighborhood, for participation in the process of town planning.
My thesis was, that the moment of a poetic encounter may irritate, disclose, or unsettle, but at the same time has the potential to be a stimulus to the public space and the residents. This moment has the power to activate, to give shape to public places through actions, and to creat space for shared human experiences.
The 4th international Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2009) tried to answer the questions: How to live together? How to share the resources and opportunities cities offer?
The 12th Architecture Biennale Venice (2010) tried to figure out how people meet in architecture and asked what has architecture to do with the relationships among human beings. And how important is the work of an architect? "Architecture is the stage where we all play theatre," says Ivan Rijavec, curator of the Australian pavilion. "And of course this is important, because this environment determines how we play this living theatre". Kazuyo Sejima (director in 2010) hoped that the audience "...really come in touch with the architecture..." To be honest, I think that we will not find the answers of all theses questions in the topic of architecture but maybe in the act of the city residence themselves.
The
Polish pavilion in Venice, was based entirely on risk - “participate at
your own risk”. In the installation "Emergency Exit" the visitors were
invited to jump three feet into the abyss. Simply to leave the
over-regulated system of the city and to find their own back-door. This
is the message of the two artists Agnieszka Kurant and Aleksandra
Wasilkowska. "People want to discover their own city," says Kurant.
"This is our response to the biennale theme: People meet in
architecture. People want to meet in places they find themselves. You do
not want to leave that decision by urban planners and architects.”
Kurant and Wasilkowska do not believe that people are interested to meet
in places which have been specially designed for them.In my performances for example I am searching for moments in everyday life where a poetic encounter could arise. A moment of an intense experience, a moment where I can become one with the world of the other and a moment where the encounter will be saved in my body as a trace. The encounter, which I would ground performance art on, is one of an energetic flow. I want to describe a perceptual state that occurs beyond a rational organizational and experiential encounter. Personally I explore in performance art a form of attention, namely the moment of encounter as an aesthetic category. For me the moment when the encounter occurs, is the purest form of an aesthetic of existence. Based on this moment of encounter and in the spirit of Paul Watzlawick's saying 'You can not not communicate', I would like to continue and point out 'but you can forget to act'.
Ilka Theurich, 2011
If you are interested please follow the link: The City of Dream and Future