Kobie Nel – Harbakka Ruins Project 2014, Bergen; Courtesy of the artist and Hardbakka Ruins Project
For this year’s workshop and exhibition, Hardbakka Ruins Project relocates to the city of Bergen. Keeping the Hardbakka Ruins in mind, as a natural site deemed to have cultural-historical value, we expand conceptually to look at urban sites that blur the borders between public and private space: we start from a semi-public open area along the harbour, which is currently the site of considerable private development and expansion.
The Commons is a multi-faceted term that is understood differently in different contexts: this makes it a fruitful starting point for a workshop and exhibition. While the curator Alison Hugill reads the theoretical understanding of the term from Italian Autonomist-Marxists Antonio Negri and Silvia Federici, design collective ON/OFF have a more hands-on understanding of the commons as it relates to urban questions. Additionally, with the site in Bergen, Norway, the concept of ‘statsallmenning’ offers yet another perspective: referring to shared public resources owned by the state. This threefold understanding of the Commons will be discussed and worked on throughout the workshop, as participants tackle the possibility of a ‘third-way’ between private and public (state owned) space.
Hardbakka 2015 will be co-presented with experimental design collective ON/OFF, as we interrogate the idea of ‘micro-architectures’: playful objects that appear within public space to prompt fresh interactions with the city. The first two days will be dedicated to an intensive workshop led by ON/OFF, wherein participants will come together to create ‘actions’ in the city. The rest of the workshop week will consist of independent or group work on chosen projects.
Interdisciplinary art/design/architecture groups as well as singular artists are encouraged to apply with a short portfolio of past work, emailed to hardbakkaruins@gmail.com
Deadline for applications is April 13, 2015.
ON/OFF at Kanal Playground Brussels, Video by Andrew Bateman
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Additional Information
HARDBAKKA RUINS PROJECT
Workshop: Jun. 22 – 29, 2015
Exhibition: Jun. 29 – Jul. 6, 2015
More information about the Hardbakka Ruins Project open call: www.hardbakkaruins.wix.com/bergen#!open-call-2015/
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Blog entry in Berlin; Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2015.
