Vide : three stories of seizing space for other performances

Pauls Rietums

Rīga has lost a third of its 1 million inhabitants since 1991. However, rather than dwelling on the quantitative data of the depopulation event, one may look at the qualitative aspects of what it means to live in one. Shrunken cities tend to fixate on the populous and productive urban space of the past and a longing for its future return. A longing that in Rīga materializes as heaps of vacant space in the process of idling – locked up, awaiting demand to appear again. It is unlikely the city will experience significant population growth in the near future. One must question whether a fixation on a past-and-future image is worthwhile. Rather than abiding by the binary image of city space being either productive or idle, the excess space of a shrunken Rīga could, for the time being, exist in a blurred point between the two and host performances more concerned with quality of life than economic productivity. Let us daydream of taxation laws and proactive attitudes that incentivize owners to offer idle spaces for common uses. The project is a story of three speculative interventions in leftover spaces in Rīga. A contemplation on processes of care, play and rest a space can host while the demand for a commercial performance is absent. Beyond their programmes, the interventions aim to broaden a collective imagination of ever-evolving performances in the city. Working in situ becomes an experimental process of negotiating access for some good to take place, even for a little while.

Files
Énoncé (PDF), Énoncé (PDF), Énoncé (PDF), Planche (PDF), Planche (PDF)
LINKS
Team
Teachers:
Dieter Dietz, Vincent Kaufmann, Ruben Alberto Valdez Juarez
Supervision team:
Dietz, Dieter (dir. pédagogique) ; Kaufmann, Vincent (prof.) ; Valdez Juarez, Ruben (maître EPFL) ; Wellinger, Jeanne (expert)
Professor in charge of the statement:
Kaufmann, Vincent (ENAC IA LASUR)
Unit:
ALICE, ENAC-SAR
Infos
Year:
2024
Period:
Master, Fall
Category:
Master Project
Copyright:
CC BY Licence
Theoretical statement

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