16 Jun 2011

RÖDA STEN ART CENTRE presents: (DIS)ASSEMBLED, a project and exhibition by STEALTH.unlimited

(DIS)ASSEMBLED by STEALTH.unlimited
– a project and an exhibition on different ways to imagine the city

11 June – 21 August 2011

(Dis)assembled lays out the possibility to take the making of the city into our own hands – as a common effort to reclaim imagination in shaping the city around us. On the floor of Röda Sten Art Centre’s main exhibition hall, a large collection of materials and equipment is laid out. Meticulously sorted, item-by-item, it rests, waiting for an idea and for an action to bring it to life.

(Dis)assembled, a project and an exhibition developed for Röda Sten Art Centre and its surrounding, is an exercise to explore the potential of assembling and assembly. Or to say it differently, it explores the potential of creating our direct environment and of constituting a society through joining together in conversations, agreements and disputes about the next steps to be taken. With this, it relates to an ongoing interest in the urban development of the contemporary city; and more specifically to the development plan for the city of Gothenburg and the area around Röda Sten Art Centre that has been left out of such plan. It also responds to the trend of “participation” in such development processes – forms of assembly if you like – so present in Sweden, but with so varied and often disputed results.

Röda Sten Art Centre, the former thermal plant, sits on a peculiar spot, next to the huge Älvsborg Bridge over the Göta River. Although featuring like a desolate field, or abandoned part of Gothenburg, many have come to like it and use it as a space to hang out, walk along the waterside, or enjoy summer activities. What could be other possible uses for this area in the upcoming time – in the next months, years… possibly decennia?

As the possibilities for the surroundings of Röda Sten Art Centre still remain wide open, maybe ”we”, the citizens, should take the lead and imagine it, and transform the area for a period of time through direct, think-on and hands-on format. This part of the city can become an ad-hoc spa, it can host an improvised skate park, an outdoor theatre, a park, a fictional landscape – or we can decide to leave it desolate as it is today.

On the floor of Röda Sten Art Centre’s main exhibition hall, you will find materials and equipment to go ahead and give shape to your ideas. Set amidst the items on the floor, you will also find a variety of inspiring examples of temporary spatial interventions (from a one-day park on a parking lot, urban gardening and an instant swimming pool, to a temporary opera on a subway station, and others). Watch how these international architecture and art practices make them – 72 Hour Urban Action (Bat Yam), atelier d’architecture autogérée (Paris), Babelgum/Kelly Loudenberg - New Urbanism (New York), Bruit du frigo (Bordeaux), EXYZT (Paris/London), raumlabor (Berlin), Rebar (San Francisco). And last but not least, Röda Sten has assistance in the form of ”building coaches” for you available, when you get into action on your own or with others.

(DIS)ASSEMBLED SCREENING PROGRAM

In the other space of Röda Sten Art Centre, (Dis)assembled is complemented by a screening program containing a number of video works by a group of international artists – Johanna Billing, Chto Delat, Latifa Echakhch, Mario Rizzi, Stefano Romano and Paola Yacoub. Their works are here to generate a discussion on our perception of the contemporary city, as a shared space that affects and is affected by our relations and interaction. The screening program aims at offering possible readings of the potential for assembly, reflecting the inherent tension contained in the clash between public realm and private interests, and uncovering the complex nature of the city and the continuously shifting relations that define it.

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(Dis)assembled and the screening program is initiated by STEALTH.unlimited in dialogue with Röda Sten Art Centre and curator Edi Muka.

STEALTH.unlimited is a practice based between Rotterdam and Belgrade set up in 2000 by architects Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen. STEALTH shape opportunities to mobilize thinking about possible future(s) of the city, often by involving larger numbers of participants and experts in dense collaborations. Their recent projects include: Archiphoenix: Faculties for Architecture, Dutch Pavillion at the Architecture Biennial in Venice (2008); the Cities Log research series (since 2009); and a neighbourhood project on a former landfill in Medellin, Colombia.

(www.stealth.ultd.net)