Architektura +
Architectural Workshops at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Modern day cities are a plexus of different processes developing together, but at a different pace. The rapidity of development and increase of complexity of irregularly cooperating organizational systems cause friction and lead to accidents, which are often difficult to foresee. The fast growing market of Internet community portals demonstrates how the shape and manner of operation of public space has evolved in recent years.

Therefore, there arises the necessity to develop new methods which would tame the chaotic development of urban spaces but also the necessity to institute educational systems enabling people for a faster adaptation to sudden shifts.

The main goal of the workshops is the proposal for an open, dynamic model of knowledge and experience exchange between intergenerational groups. The involvement of various age groups aims for the manifestation of the necessity of communication and cooperation in the innovation process. The Museum's space will be used to initiate the creative process based on mutual action and the pursuit for the recognition and processing of their surroundings.

SHEDULE OF EVENTS:

1. Phase one: children's workshop (8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.)

A group of fifteen children (age group of 8 to 12) supervised by a counselor/s will be invited into the Museum's quarters (in the temporary headquarters of the Museum at Pańska 3 Street in Warsaw). Soon after an interactive happening/musical performance will take place. All children are welcome to participate.

After the introduction (around 9:00 a.m.), the participants will be introduced to a multi-media presentation of color slides showing different animals inhabiting various earth's ecosystems (a large screen made of fifteen jointly connected LCD monitors, creating a large eye-catching screen). Each child will be able to choose any animal depending on their preferences. The images will be printed out and handed out to the participants. The number of the chosen images is unlimited (each participant may choose more than one image). Next, using the available material-tools (adhesive tapes of different levels of transparency, water-color pens), the children will paint and design their pick (for example a tropical fish, toucan or tiger). In the meanwhile, each child can draw or mark their presence (territory) on paper sheets (white paper sheet roll). The limited amount of materials is crucial due to the clarity and coherence of the reached effects.

Another task (around 11:00 a.m.) will be the grouping and preliminary classification of the created models on the basis of free connotation, preferences etc. At this time, the children will be able to describe the effects of their projects. We are aiming for a couple of groups of models.

After noon (12:00 a.m.) a group of children will take a tour of the ''DESIGN'' exhibition devoted to the problem of design (industrial design, architecture, city-planning). Children may stay in the Museum space during the whole day and interact freely with students and other participating people.

2. Phase two: workshop for architecture students, “laboratory” (12:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.)

Sophomore architecture students from the Warsaw Technical University Architectural Department will be invited to participate in the second phase of the project. The students will gather with children during the discussion. They observe, listen, get accustomed with the space and situation and interact with each other.

At twelve o’clock they receive their first task. They must form groups. Each group takes responsibility for one set of models. The first phase, the analytical part or the so-called “laboratory”, deals with the separation (within each group) and observation of each singled-out model. The students examine the models: in a staged photo studio each single object will be photographed and a specialist professional photographer will assist in the process. The camera will be used as a research tool. The key terms will be: a spatial quality, typology, architectural scale. The initially achieved objects shall receive strictly architectural qualities. In the meantime the multi-media screen will be supplemented by pictures of models aligned with the pictures of animals (an additional person responsible for the presentation will be hired for the LCD screen handling). In opposition to the first phase, based more on entertainment, phase two is more strict. The students should communicate in groups – exchange ideas, discuss and negotiate their decisions. After a preliminary analysis the models go back to the groups developed in the first phase.

Around 2:00 p.m. the students receive a second task. In the perimeter of the chosen groups they will have to tie the models using a thin, transparent, elastic cable to achieve a certain configuration. The linear elements define the relationships between the certain objects – they will form a network. Each group will create their own composition, which, photographed, will supplement the multi-media presentation. The key terms are: multi-dimensional structure, fragment of urban-space and public space.

The last task is a systematic co-junction of the various created structures into one. The participants shall have to assemble the project on perforated plywood table especially prepared for that purpose. The groups will now have to negotiate as they would be designing potential infrastructure for the whole city-like structure.

The second phase should be mobilizing and the students have to undertake fast and rational decisions.

3. Phase three: public debate with participation of experts (7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.)

In phase three an open discussion shall take place. Seven people and a moderator will participate. They should consist of experienced people, dealing with development and growth strategies, communication and new media theory, sociology of space and cities, culture animation, architectural theory and practice. A representative of the Museum will also take part in the discussion.

The presentation which was developed during the workshops will be the counterpoint for the following discussion. The slide-show will consist of sets of pictures of animals and models created on their basis and the appearing pictures of particular group structures.

The subject of discussion shall be in particular the practical implications of the proposed educational model as well as theoretical issues. The invited guests are expected to be the part of the work in creation and participate in the project not as passive by-standers, observers and commentators from the outside. The workshops are a time in which all of the participants should demonstrate an active interest in the process of the gradual organization of knowledge.

Note:

The day after - on 27th of September - the collected and recorded material (screened on LCD monitors) will be available for the guests of the Museum.

A professional photographer and cameraman will be present at the location during the workshops and will take care of the documentation. Later on a short feature documentary will be made out of the edited material.

Samsung is the Technological Partner of the "Architektura+" Programme

Programme partners: A. Blikle, Plexico, Fundacja Św. Jana Jerozolimskiego