This is a laboratory created as part of the ArchMoscow exhibition. The laboratory’s program includes practical workshops, lectures by curators and architects from the Blank Architects bureau, as well as performance screenings.
The theme of the laboratory lies between two poles: architecture and performance. On one side — stability, hierarchy, and a dialogue with one’s own historical heritage; on the other — fluidity, play, and a shifting ontological status. Static and movement, form and behavior. Spaces created for performances and performances that create spaces around themselves overlap with each other.
“Ok. I need an action,” says the architect. From the maternal womb or the egg onward, spaces and living beings exist in stable yet tense relationships with one another. From conception to the very last days, spaces influence the behavior of individuals. The reverse is also true: as they develop, living beings shape spaces for their own performances. Working, resting, mating bodies continuously erect, destroy, dig, and carve out spaces. Participants in this long-term construction leave traces of their activity within the landscape and pass it on to future generations.
“Ok. I need an action,” echo the voices of the performers. Thus, the fundamental property uniting performance and architecture is action. It connects us to a wide range of practices of designing, constructing, and building spaces. Points where different methods, techniques, and tools intersect resemble construction sites. Here, countless configurations and combinations emerge: organic and inorganic, language and silence, organized processes and free play. Every construction site is a Babylonian gathering — a convergence of limitless forms and behaviors, speaking in different languages.
The architecture of a social utopia appears as a participatory project in which all participants are engaged in a shared process of constructing new territories. Our performance laboratory invites young architects, designers, visitors to the ArchMoscow exhibition project, and city residents to take part in co-construction practices. “Ok. I need an action!” shout the builders.
Architect and Curator: Alexandra Razina
Team: Vladimir Bocharov, Katya Ganyushina
Created for: Blank Architects Office
Award: «Most Conceptual Project in the Architecture Category»
