CHRONICLE
AΔA
O:TVORENO
I
An ancient man, today's Homo Sapiens, found Altamira when he ignited the first flame.
...At the moment when the spirit was reduced to the sand, the sea, the wind and the sun, the body drew the word - a symbol on the delta of Ada Bojana. The logos of ada shone. The infinite space of the night, where the sky was not visible because of the amount of stars, was opened. The campfire was ignited. First place, ancient and timeless, which man ever made...
An ancient man, today's Homo Sapiens, called Altamira "a place". The elements protected and satisfied the existence and dwelling. Staring in the fire, and her play on stone surfaces, full-fed and heated, meditative and contemplative, in self-awareness, he felt the need for creation. He produced masks, sculptures, tools and other usable objects, he painted the walls of the cave - proto-architecture, and he established the history of art, leaving the frames of the basic needs of existence. Homo Sapiens, the thinking man, while working as Homo Faber, he created culture by playing and found himself in Homo Ludens, the playing man.
...The presence in the space of delta and the becoming one with elements caused the need for a place that was manifested by the creation of a camp, constantly changing, constantly emerging, permanently disappearing (and re-emerging), whose image reflected a group of people living in it and who (re)formed it by the means at its disposal. The needs and creations of the creator of a temporary settlement - the camp are expressed through a combination of the predetermined set of planned materials, brought in the backpack and an unpredictable (potential) set of materials, found on the site, causing an endless series of thematic variations...
When in the designer's being of Homo Sapiens Faber Ludens, the thinking, work and play were synthesized, then the cave, as a work of nature, became the heritage of culture and civilization, and art, design and architecture became man's existential and spiritual need. The essence of Ada, as an idea, space, social factor and field of activity, inspired play and creativity, and the camp as a place, besides the characteristic of satisfying the basic settlement needs in the given natural conditions, became a field of action of art and design experiment based on what you brought, what you were given and what you shared.
...The forces, with which the elements of Ada - earth, water, air, and fire act on each other in space and infinity, creating a landscape, are the forces in people who do in time. The sign + or - in front of the action of a man only indicates the direction of that action through polarities, its creation or destruction, writing or erasing, building or demolishing, between the past and the future, in the present: ±∞ ...
Thus, the idea gets in the man and the man in the idea. AΔA has become. The field of the endless circle is O:TVORENO (O:PEN)
***
Homo Universalis left Altamira, giving it's Renaissance as a gift to the world.
...Back from the coast to the "civilization", Stefan Radošević and Luka Višnjić brought the newly born idea to Čačak, their hometown. The days of wandering, walking and exploring public spaces of the town, the nights of talks on the riverside of the Zapadna Morava and recalling the exnexus (ekchekcyc) anonymous actions in public spaces, have created the need to o:pen (create) there, exactly where they spent their childhood. The idea was transformed into the elaboration of the guerrilla action tactic of setting up urban furniture elements. The right to a city and a place in the public space resulted in self-initiative, applied micro-urbanism, the conquest of space through a "trash" design, which is based on finding aesthetics and functionality in, and manipulating with, found and renovated, recycled materials...
...In February 2016, AΔA (ada) is formed which arises from the interweaving of the essence of Ada Bojana's experience and the idea of unifying one's own works of art, design and architecture. Instead of original intention of archiving the entire previous Stefan's creative opus through this comprehensive abbreviation, AΔA becomes an idea and a group that preaches art, design, architecture and their permeation as a cultural - social - spatial need, through the initiative of the new concept - project O:TVORENO (O:PEN)...
...Thus, already in March, they went to Stephan's attic and found discarded metal trolley in which they saw their first, unique, multi-functional bench on the river bank, where many benches were either damaged or missing...
...TREШ /tresh/, the art and experimental-music studio until then, became a workshop where various materials were transformed and from where they got a new life by returning back to the public space. Fully enthusiastic, Luka and Stefan began to work, and started recording photos, audios, texts and/or videos of the story's idea, thinking that one day, the entire process, and how it all started, would be presented to the public in some way. Documentation also cured the reconsideration of the futility of the entire enterprise and its result. The whole operation at the same time represented the act, the method and the product. In this way, this website (online place) became more than a classic website, a kind of "making of" about "making of", "storyboard" or an o:pen chronicle of one idea...
...The way in which the multimedia palette of the content of this concept - project, digital and material corresponds, is the way this text communicates as a combination of chronicles, programs, essays, correspondences, stories, novels, articles, travel books, yearbooks, technical descriptions. The characteristic stylistic and content remix of the textual structure of this chronicle makes it a unique literary form, which functions as a part of the whole (blog) and as a work for itself...
...Reflecting on how an experiment is observed and understood as a natural human need, and how the conquering and opening up space by creating a place to become more than street art, where one has active artists and more or less passive audiences, the whole operation transformed from the two men's game and over-the-night activism, into the concept of an educational workshop for many participants who, through thinking, working and playing, will design and create O:TVORENO IGRALIŠTE (O:PEN PLAYGROUND)...
Homo Spiritus (Movens) is aware of collective consciousness, preaches the idea, connected with a world like himself.
II
"Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play." - Heraclitus
...The idea to open space and create a place with "guerrilla" action, and later with the architecture workshop O:TVORENO IGRALIŠTE (O:PEN PLAYGROUND) for children and young people, proves to be an excellent program concept for the upcoming first DUK Festival (Days of Urban Culture), which supports youth activism and every aspect of creative activity of young people in general, and part of the site where it is maintained offers great potential...
The abandoned and unused space under and around the pedestrian bridge on the river Zapadna Morava creates a discontinuity of the coastal area in terms of content and connection with existing sports and recreational facilities, on one side, and the pedestrian zone on the other. The lack of organized space for playing, gathering and dwelling of the youngest fellow citizens in the outdoors is one of the recognized problems and potentials of the riverside. The solving of spatial-program problem, in terms of new content, aims to improve the quality of life and affects dwelling in an open space (natural environment).
..."The Bridge of Youth, as a gift for the Youth, to join the shores and their hearts", is the board inscription on the bridge , which will soon be rejuvenated through play, learning and creation. The idea of the workshop, primarily intended for children and young people, was supported by friends and members of the festival organization, Milorad Obradović, Dragana Živanović and Olgica Terzić, which was an additional reason to pursue intentions...
...Motivated, they continue to collect and reform material that will be used by participants for seizing the space on the day of the workshop. Beginning with a bicycle parking bench, through the central motif - the swings, along with the micro-ambience of the vertical garden with another bench, whose concrete structure is found in the dumps, just below the bridge, Luka and Stefan create a vision of the game site. The two go to the village of Stančići, to the estate of Stefan's uncle Radoslav Stojić, with whose help, they start working on design for urban furniture...
...When they've gone deeper in the elaboration of the idea, the entire enterprise becomes a real challenge and enjoyment through art and design. The reflection on the program of the workshop itself has become more comprehensive and conceptually more complete. The design was intended to "re-code" discarded used items (metal trolleys, pallets, tires, canisters ...) giving them a new function and a new aesthetics. After rough work, the duo goes from the village into the town, in Luka's yard, where the finalization of the spatial elements takes place...
...On the other hand, it comes to the conclusion that the architecture workshop itself should include a drawing (design) part of the program. The approach is to create axonometric and perspective, cognitive - interactive drawing sheets, which aim to motivate participants and to implement their own ideas and vision of game space through the drawings (projects) in the newly established Youth Park...
...Due to the constant overwhelming inspiration and the idea of connection of the entire experiment in terms of content, a cognitive - interactive workbook, which connects the drawing and practical part of the program, is created. It contains the intention of the program of workshops, drawings of materials used, proposed elements of furniture and necessary tools, drawing space for sketching and developing ideas...
...What is left at the end of the preparatory work is to call the participants, the annunciation of the workshop and to treat the deserted area under the bridge which needs to be cleaned, painted, illuminated and white...
Participants of the educational and practical workshop actively participate in creative work at a specific location in creating their own space of play and dwelling. Through the active action at the cognitive level, this method influences, develops and encourages the awareness of young people about the quality of their own work products and advocacy for the community in order to develop their own environment. The program consists of two parts:
1) Designer (drawing) - Participants explore the potential of a specific public space through their own ideas and suggestions of intervention, using cognitive - interactive sheets, maps, and workbooks that contain the set of tools and existing materials related to the practical part.
2) Practical (constructive) - Participants create a place in the (same) specific space, building on the existing context ("plug-in"), constructing a ephemeral structure from pre-designed element materials and tools, according to the proposed project of the authors (coordinators) of the workshop.
...Considering that this type of architecture and micro-urbanism workshop is held for the first time in the environment, such as Čačak, and as part of the program at the DUK festival itself (which has already been divided into murals painting activities, extreme sports of skateboarding and roller skates, as well as music concerts), attracting the attention of potential participants was a serious undertaking. On the one hand, Luka and Stefan, on their own initiative, come in contact with teachers and professors of elementary and secondary schools, through which they reach children and young people. They also print flyers - invitations that they share and scatter around the town. On the other hand, Dragana meets them with Vladimir Gospavić and the Scout squad Vojvoda Stepa, from whom they receive full support and guaranteed participation, and DUK organizes a presentation of workshops at the Cultural Center in Čačak, where Stefan and Luka, through the Intro film, sheets, workbooks , and some of the spatial elements, hold the introductory class...
...After successfully conducted introductory class, it is still necessary, in remaining seven days, to clean the dump under the bridge, remove the humus layer, strew the white gravel, whitewash the bridge and prepare for a potential mural and install lamps. Through all-day work, the duo with the team of organizers and volunteers, gathered around the festival, and the invaluable help of the children who dwelled under the bridge, managed to finish the work and prepare the workshop space till evening before the beginning of the festival...
...That morning, the van brought the material and school desks from the elementary school "Vuk Karadžić", thanks to the proncipal Dragan Parezanović, whom Dragana, Luka and Stefan persuaded for a two-day loan. An o:pen classroom among the birch trees is formed, and an o:pen warehouse for tools and materials ready for upcoming mastery under the bridge, is formed...
...What happens in this experiment in the next three days can hardly be placed in the textual content of this chronicle, because it is an explosion of energy and a multi-event catalyst. Children who have a strong desire to draw and project, to construct, to dig the ground for basis, to use screwdrivers, to paint, to plant and to get dirty. An involement includes the Scout squad, random passersby, parents with kids, who come thrilled with such an initiative in the town. In coordination of the workshop Luka and Stefan are joined by their friends Jovana Jovanović, Ana Obradović and Lazar Stanojčić. In the context of the environment, the wall and pillar of the bridge are left to the work of Dina Bralović Shkrabatorre, who painted a two-part artistic composition of the siren, over which the playground is lying (sailing). The filmmakers Đorđe Milosavljević Gera and Mihajlo Vitezović come from Belgrade and record the whole event, which with the previous video material, turn into a short experimental documentary about this venture...
...The conquest of the space under the bridge lasts for three days, where after each, as an incentive and "reward", one swing, hung on the bridge construction is installed. Thus, the swings, as the biggest sensation, subtly become a leitmotif - a symbol of the O:TVORENO, representing a simple carefree element of playing in the function of celebrating youth and the playing itself...
In architectural terms, the Bridge of Youth is, contextually and conceptually, treated as a polyvalent, vertically and horizontally layered (infra) structure. In addition to its primary function - the pedestrian communication between the two banks of the river, which in this case represents the upper level or the "fifth facade", by intervention, it becomes the carrier and canopy for the spatial elements positioned in its linear projection below, as well as the canvas for the mural. Thus, it communicates both horizontally and vertically (pedestrian zone : riverside : playground : river) through its users.
The installed elements form a unique whole with the bridge, where those under it are placed logically to the usage of surrounding environment, upgrading to those elements of the flora (tree plant) and the fauna (bird feeder among the trees), on the green surface nearby.
In the artistic - aesthetic view, spatial elements are defined by combination of natural - wood in new materials and white paint on recycled, re-coded materials, which, in fact, formally and functionally, "purifies" or "resets" and unifies segments of elements in a new "reading" and new use. The painting of parts of the bridge in white has the same goal, preparing it as a basis for artistic intervention.
Instead of dumps, a playground is created, while discarded materials, instead of waste, become a part of design. The newly established place in the space under the bridge becomes a "portal" between the two riverside zones which it connects.
...The spiritual and emotional result of this undertaking is immeasurable. The physical result consists of over 100 sheets outlined in ideas about the space of the game, a space under the bridge that has brought life to a new place through the energy of interpersonal unity and creative action, as well as extensive video material, which is passed to all who want to create their own vision of the whole action. Thus, through video and film, the idea of action O:TVORENO IGRALIŠTE (O:PEN PLAYGROUND) continues to live in another medium, as a successful action in the service of creation for everything that grows - birds, plants and a child in a man...
...O:TVORENO is in its own duration, and it is left to people and time. It is given to those who will demolish and destroy it, and those who will repair it and rebuild with their own needs and logic. This is nothing more than a picture of an embodied idea in reality, where the elements of Ada openly act in the social and material space, through people familiar polarities. The truth is that dream, thought and energy, from one plane, one triangle of delta, grows into the system of plains, the tetrahedron of the mountain of AΔA...
III
An ancient man, today's Homo Sapiens, dreamed and looked at the heights and the night sky, seeking the purpose and connection with the other side, sublime, divine, a connection with himself...
...The moment I woke up on the beach, I was still not aware that I was dreaming. I went to the sea, but the wind gently raised me up and led to the mainland, carrying me through the gorge and mountainous landscapes. While flying and floating, through the unknown, at one point, on the horizon, I saw the outline of an equilateral triangle, as large as a mountain. The more it was getting close to me, or me to it (the sense of magnetism was mutual), that its shape was becoming more three-dimensional, revealing the dark green planes of the perfect tetrahedron. The wind stopped me for a moment at its foothill and made me levitate in the air, just enough to realize that this is the mountain - the apotheosis of my outcome.
From the previously horizontal plane of movement, hurriedly the wind raised me vertically this time, which caused a mild disturbance of uncertainty in my chest. While I was rising to the top in light-speed, the dense forests of the conifers seemed to endlessly fall down into the abyss. By the first appearance of the bare pastures that followed, I was again stopped to levitate over the dense darkness of the unnumbered treetops for a moment. It was enough that, accompanied by a mild sense of unclear grief, I noticed a column of people who, as pilgrims with large camping ranks, followed a winding path that lost track somewhere under livid clouds in altitudes.
Looking at the gloomy whirlpool above me, and the abyss below me, for the first time I felt that I could control the wind, or the direction of my movement. I flew up, into the nest of electrical discharges. I found myself in the void of cloudy space, and I was emptied, not knowing if I was moving at all. Then the clouds began to change colors and shapes: from blue to gray, from gray to white, from white to gold, from gold to sunlight. I stretched out my hands to the light and glittering whiteness blinded me for a moment. I opened my eyes sitting in the air under the clear sky and the rays of the sun, over the golden clouds from which the snow-white peak of the mountain - the tetrahedron was visible.
Filled with peace, understanding and a strong sense of love in my chest, I woke up with the sun's rays on my own smile in the summer of 2015. From dream within a dream, I was back here, in reality, on the beach. It was the last day of the third stay on the delta of Ada and the day for returning to "civilization". The experience of the island and dwelling has turned into a call of mountain and pilgrimage. The two of us were not even aware that at that moment we were getting into a great idea that we would follow...
An ancient man, today's Homo Sapiens, declared the mountain a home of gods. Homo Spiritus (Movens) conquered its peak and sky above it.
..."We subtracted ourselves around the Bridge, summed up ourselves in front of the Bridge, divided ourselves under the Bridge, in order to multiply ourselves on the Bridge", echoing the undertakings that Stefan and Luka achieved with their friends and fellow citizens at the O:PEN PLAYGROUND after the festival. While the AΔA counted new members, the powerful call of delta subtly directed the group to Rtanj (Artan), a mountain of perfect pyramidal geometry, which Ser Arthur Clarke called "the navel of the world" and which was attributed to mythical traditions, healing energy and transcendental experiences...
The design outcome of the force of nature, or the work of inconceivable mathematical intelligence, makes Rtanj (Artan) proto-architecture, meta-pyramid and the forerunner of the energy generators of ancient Egypt. The experience of dwelling on the delta of Ada is identified with the experience of moving and using the space of the Rtanj pyramid. Creating a campsite, as well as the ancient conquering of the cave, is equated with the path from the camp at the foot of the mountain to the point at the top of the mountain, ie the event of quest and pilgrimage.
…A few days after the workshop, Stefan Radošević, Luka Višnjić, Ana Obradović, Vladica Civrić, Jelena Radošević, Vuk Bradić and Martina Milošević set their camp nearby the „Svetilište (Sanctuary)“ site, at the foot of the mountain, which becomes the home of this group of seven "pilgrims" and the path to the „Šiljak“ peak…
ROUTE
1 THE CAMP
...We encamped on a meadow in the middle of a forest, on a small plateau near the old earthen aquifer beside a stream, about 2 to 3 kilometers north-east of the settlement of Rtanj, on the way to Boljevac. This ideal place, one year earlier, was found by Vuk, when we came to Rtanj for the festival, but we were not able to conquer the top of the mountain that had already accepted us. This time we came to revisit it...
...The first day we explored the landscape of the immediate environment, in which wild nature slowly eroded what was left of the "industrial-classicism" buildings of the mining complex that was built by the Minh family, during the thirties of the twentieth century. The first encounter with the "post-apocalyptic" scenery, complemented by the internal energy of the mountain, was a good foundation and an inspiring preparation for tomorrow's ascent...
2 THE MINER'S FOUNTAIN
...We got up early and while having breakfast on the grass, we were getting ready to leave. We put the rest of the previous night's camp fire out and gathered at the miner's fountain, on the other (upper) side of the road. Martina had already poured the water for the road. Washed and refreshed, we went down to the settlement, to the beginning of the hiking trail...
...The road to the village, which led through the woods, was occasionally interrupted by these "ancient" stone wellheads, with which once coal miners had tamed the springs of mountain depths. Today, Rtanj is mostly inhabited by old people and the silent echo of a bright, more advanced past. The testimonies were swallowed by ferns, mysteries and distant great truths which are occasionally arosed by Dragoslav Milenkovic Šou (Show), while taking care of the injured Jackal which, in ancient Egypt, was considered to be a guardian of the door between the physical and spiritual world...
...From the village to the top, the first section of the trip was led by two paths, from which we chose the second ( II ), the path of a mild climb...
3 RTANJ TEA (Satureja Montana)
...We climbed a narrow path through the forest, rocks and downcast clouds. At the first rest area, under the trunk of the phantasmagorical shape, we met a group of walkers who came back, giving up on climbing. Sensing the rain and storm, they advised us to go back and proceed down to the foothill. The synthesis of the mountain's energy and determination in us spoke the opposite. We continued on, towards another resting place on the flattened meadows above the forest...
...The pyramid of Šiljak (Peak), ripping of the clouds, showed up at another break at which we explored the flora of the mountain planes. Going out to the glade, the view of the sunny distance confirmed that there is no giving up, because the top is waiting for us. While we were resting in front of the serpentine of final slope, Ana collected Rtanj tea (satureja montana), an endemic species of medicinal herbs that grow in places where the energy radiation of Rtanj is diffracted...
4 THE TOP - "Ladybug Spa"
...We succeeded, we climbed. Above Šiljak - the Peak of Rtanj, the summer sun was shining and the stone remains of the mined chapel, raised by the Minhs long ago, were lying on it. In between, thousands of ladybugs who seemed to have sprung out of the very top, were flying around, gently landing on our bodies...
...We enjoyed this scene and feeling for a long time, which Stefan called "Ladybug Spa", recalling the dream he had on Ada and linking it to events and experiences during the ascent. Barefoot and satisfied, sitting and resting meditatively and contemplatively, between the peak and the large vertical tunnel leading into the womb of the mountain, we were having our own thoughts and mutual conversations between dream and reality, present moment and myth, in the abundance of orgone energy that came from the mystical depths of Artan...
...The feeling of timelessness was interrupted by the wind, indicating a return to the foothill. Each of us, with full heart and in own rhythm, went down, leaving behind the pyramid and legends of its hidden treasure...
5 THE FIRE THE SWING
...We warmed up by the fire that Luka set on at our first get-together, after descending from the Pyramid of Rtanj. Gathered around the flame, above the hill for which we later learned that it was called "The Swing", some of us made an alliance and joined the group, taking part in some future venture. At this place and in this symbolic and semantic connection, it is (not) by chance that a new chapter was o:pen which would be shown in a few days...
...After we dried out the clothes and warmed up our bones on the stone tepidarium that we formed over the fire, we left a bit of a glow to breathe under the stone (under the Peak) and went down to high plants...
...Descending through the forest, the group spontaneously split, so some took the same path, while others, following the trail of the walkers they met, chose the first ( I ) path...
6 ROSARIUM
...We entered the village and took the opportunity to explore the sights before going to dinner. Special attention was drawn by Rosarium of Greta Minh, as a central place in the former forest park, which was discovered by Jelena during the last year's visit to Rtanj. This building, as the testimony of some ancient civilization, was set about eighty years ago in a place where the peak of the Šiljak's shadow falls during the summer solstice...
...Neglected and unused, Rosarium inspired the intervention in space, by which this place, in one of the following visits, should be O:TVORENO (O:PEN) again...
...Realizing why the descent from the mountain brought us right here, with a vision of the sacral swingville, we continued to the courtyard of the Pioneer House, where the festival program was about to begin soon...
7 MOUNT OF ARTAN
...We were served with sesame beans from the open-air festival cuisine, where Vladica brought us. A meal, intended for all pilgrims and visitors of that day, strengthened our hungry bodies and gave an energy to our spirit for the upcoming musical content...
...Mount of Artan Festival is an event that supports specific alternative music and "DIY" culture, preaching the cult and mythology of the Rtanj pilgrimage. As such, it represents the final act that encompass and completes our visit and the call of our quest...
...The sounds from the stage at the foot of the mountain were shifting between ambient harmony and controlled disharmony like the onomatopoeia of this space, making us, this place and the ritual we attended complete in terms of content. In the darkness of the night, above the pine trees and under the starry sky, there was a glimpse of Šiljak - the top of Rtanj and its mystical communication with us and the mountains...
...By building pyramids, the ancient people made a connection with the world and the universe, the energy and the divine, whereas for those before them it was the mountain itself and / or the intervention in it. RTANJ (ARTAN) was the receiver of our aspirations and the transmitter of our ideas, O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER) to some new peak or deed...
IV
..That summer, the mountain interweaved under their skin and became their physical and metaphysical determinant. Its air entered their bloodstream, and its spirit encouraged thoughts and creative processes. Returning from Rtanj, on the way to Čačak, they stopped in Grza to rest and agreed to visit the top of Kablar in the coming days, as the influence of the Šiljak (The Peak) in them was still present...
...While they were moving among the mountain peaks, the news of their altruistic work under the Bridge of Youth was traveling among the cities. While Stefan, Luka, Ana and Vladica joined the conquered peaks on the topographical relief plate at the top of Kablar, hoping for a creative endeavor on the next mountain, the mountain came to them. The call from Valjevo followed, at the moment when Artan sent its signal through Ovčar-Kablar gorge to Crni Vrh, the peak of Maljen Mountain, as well as to Divčibare...
...Through good news from good people - common friends - Lazar Stanojčić and Marko Kovač, pleasantly surprised by the O:TVORENO IGRALIŠTE (O:PEN PLAYGROUND) action, the organizers of the first Mountain Music Fest (MMF), led by Andrija Marjanović, invite the AΔA group to participate in the program of the new emerging festival, while the spirit of the pyramid of Rtanj calls for intervention in the mountain...
...AΔA accepts the call and in the coming days Stefan and Luka, preparing for a meeting with the organizers from Valjevo, see a watchtower as an intuitive and logical response to the topic of the mountain workshop. On the way to Valjevo, the duo stops at Divčibare, in fact, comes to the former Breza Camp, the location of the upcoming venture...
The abandoned space and devastated infrastructure of the once active auto camp Breza, with area of 1.6 ha and the capacity of 30 camping trailers, two bungalows, cafe-bar and football-basketball court, is located 15 minutes walk from the center of Divčibare.
The relationship between the ruined built environment and the pleasant mountain ambient, as well as the immediate proximity of the children's resort and hiking trails connecting it to this location, transform the identified problem into potential in the form of spatial-program intervention - places of gathering, rest and recreation.
The (re)use of the site and its content for the needs of the festival program is proving to be a good example of reactivation of abandoned space, and the intervention in it, in the form of creating a new place - the watchtower (observation post), represents the act of materializing this intention and prolonging the life of the camp itself.
[location 1]
...The meeting is being held at the Research Community "Vladimir Mandić - Manda" in Valjevo, where the concept of the project O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER) is presented to the organizers of the festival who unanimously accepted the idea...
...Returning to Čačak, Luka and Stefan are starting work on the project and program of the workshop. A month before the beginning of the festival, a team from the MMF receives a specification of the required material and the first 3D visualization of the preliminary watchtower design...
...After the revision of the preliminary design and reduction of the material in the vertical garden segment (replacement of the wooden planking gardeners with a mountain rope as a support for the climbing plants), final constructive details are drawn in combination with cognitive-interactive maps / sheets and educational cards for the participants in the workshop and program is defined. Following the example of the Playground, whose design is intended for people, birds and plants, the Observation Post also shares the same character. As the previous workshop is focused on the micro-urban approach in architectural design and the setting of the mobilier, this time the multinational Watchtower represents the backbone of architectural design, while the concept of additional educational content steps into the field of ornithology...
Participants of the educational and practical workshop actively participate in creative work at a specific location in creating their own space of vacation, recreation and dwelling. Through the active action at the cognitive level, this method influences, develops and encourages the awareness of young people about the quality of their own work products and advocacy for the community in order to develop their own environment. The program consists of five parts:
1) Preparatory (constructive) - AΔA group and volunteers perform earthworks and foundation of the base strips and lay the wooden supporting structure of the watchtower with the assistance and help of professional carpenters.
2) Theoretical (constructive) - Participants are educated and familiarized with the way and process of watchtower construction, following the gradual steps on a cognitive - interactive map which shows the required sets of tools and the existing spatial and program elements related to the practical part.
3) Practical (constructive) - Participants take part in the finalization of the watchtower construction and the establishment of spatial and program elements, following instructions from cognitive-interactive maps, guided by the authors (coordinators) of the workshop.
4) Designer (drawing) - Participants explore the potential of a specific public space - an ambience through their own ideas and suggestions of intervention, using cognitive - interactive sheets.
5) Additional (ornithological) - An additional program, based on the scientific discipline which studies birds, aims to extend the way in which participants can think about design and architecture, thematically linking the design domain of a multi-purpose watchtower with a specific field of knowledge in biology as they learn about the species and characteristics of the birds that inhabit the spatial framework in which they are located, using educational cards.
...The hot summer days and the freshness of the mountain air in mid-August are the perfect time to stay and work outdoors. The complexity and scope of the creative undertaking that the watchtower carries, requires at least a week of preparatory work, which includes digging the ground and casting the foundation strips in a terrain of unpredictable composition. Nine days before the start of the one-day festival, Stefan, Luka, Ana and Vladica pack the tools and equipment for camping and hit the Divčibare road...
Day I [Arrival]
...The four-member team arrives on the mountain on Friday afternoon and explores the openings among the conifers at Breza Camp, looking for a meaningful position for the O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER). During a debate between two potential sites, Luka finds a third - an ideal position among the three remaining dried birch trees. The team agrees that this is the best possible place on the site for the watchtower construction, mentioning that O:TVORENO IGRALIŠTE (O:PEN PLAYGROUND) under the Bridge of Youth is located among the birch trees...
...As the archae-geometers of the ancient pyramids, AΔA sets the plan for the watchtower base. After measuring the terrain and setting the sticks and ropes for the positions of the foundation strips, the quartet members go to dinner after which they set the resting camp with a campfire...
Day II [Earthwork]
...The first morning on the mountain, the hosts of the festival meet the AΔA team with a group of domestic and foreign volunteers who are placed in a cottage next to the camp, whose daily tasks were clearing and arranging the site of the upcoming event. After breakfast, they all go together to Breza, each to their part of the job. By coming to the site, the four get the keys from the abandoned bungalow in which the tools and construction materials are located. Nikola aka Djidja, from a group of volunteers, joins the team...
...On that day, while digging channels for the four base strips and breaking the rocky ground, the team manages to prepare the ground for tomorrow's concrete foundations cast...
Day III [Foundations]
...During the morning, the team places a broken stone drainage layer and reinforcement for the base strips. In the mean time, a truck from the Construction Company "Kej" arrives on the site, carrying the gravel and cement needed for the foundations...
...Late in the afternoon, festival organization members join the works, with whose help the concrete is mixed and cast. By setting metal supporters for the wooden structure, the final procedure of that day is carried out. Satisfied with the base cast and excited because of tomorrow's watchtower construction build-up, the enthusiastic group of AΔA goes to local cuisine dinner...
Day IV [Core Construction]
...The team measures and cuts timbering for pillars and beams, while waiting the Key carpenters to come. By the arrival of the workers, the construction of the central core of the supporting structure begins...
...After setting up the struts as a constructive support for ladders and vertical garden, the work is completed. The carpenters leave and the children of Divčibare, interested in the event in Breza, join the friends from Čačak. In a mutual conversation, the team notices that the kids are carrying "Politikin Zabavnik", so the end of a working day is celebrated with a mutual photo that will eventually be published in the journal of their childhood...
Day V [Roof Construction]
...The day before, by raising the construction for the levels I and II, a larger part of the work is completed, but the physically demanding rafters setting remains. While Vladica and Ana clear the terrain, removing humus and forming a circle under the observation post, Stefan and Luka introduce carpenters into all details and finesses of the constructive assembly, but also learn from them how this design is applied in practice...
...Almost as in a surgical procedure, the team manages to fit the angles and assemble the rafters of slanted gable roof. Ending with level III, the constructive structure for O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER) is set up and ready for a festival workshop. Satisfied with the effect, the team completes the preparatory part of the program, expecting the fine finishing and socializing with the participants...
Day VI [Intermezzo - village]
...By setting the basis for the upcoming part of the program, the group returns to Čačak to make a little three-days break and prepare the missing elements of the observation post. On the first day of the break, Stefan goes to his uncle Radoslav Stojić, previously in charge of welding of the Playground elements, with whose help he makes the metal ladders for the Watchtower...
Day VII [Intermezzo - flea market]
...On the second day of the break, Luka and Stefan spend for collecting tires for gardeners, going to the flea market and buying everything that is missing - screws and chain, paint and varnish, roof tin ridge and MDF for the frontal faces of bird houses. After the purchase, the afternoon ends with cutting and painting two isosceles triangles of roof gables...
Day VIII [Intermezzo - frontyard]
...The day before going back to the mountain, at the festival, Luka drives to Belgrade to pick other team members up, while Stefan and Ana spend in his frontyard, preparing the program elements of the watchtower mobilier: painting the tires for a vertical garden and creating an "native musical detail" of the swing...
Day IX [Workshop]
...By the arrival of Stefan, Ana, Vladica and Jovana from Čačak and Luka, Gera, Mihajlo and Neda Knežević from Belgrade, the workshop starts in the morning, gathering the AΔA group. Before the official start exactly at noon, the team prepares the tools and the material, and the bulldozer brings the white stone, as the flooring of the Observation Post. The team is joined by friends from Čačak, Stefan Marjanović and Djordje Grbović...
...By joining of the first participants, the "creative critical mass" is growing and the team is divided into sections where: Gera and Mihailo shoot the film material; Jovana, Neda and Marjanović lead the drawing, theoretical and additional part of the program (2,4 i 5) intended for children; Vladica and Ana complete the preparation of the terrain grounwork and groundfloor elements; Luka (on the level I) and Stefan (on level II) lead the youth - friends and guests from Spain in the practical operation of the program (3), coordinating the overall activity of the workshop (1-5)...
…O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER), surrounded by forest, ambient concert music, domestic spices, Sherwood arrows and bodies in yoga positions, abounds with a full-day, continuous mix of events and experiences, both in the program of the festival and in the contents of the workshop itself, which their intensity can only be seen from the bird's eye, high above the mountain peak...
...The creativity of whole day program goes beyond the duration of the festival day, going deep into the night. With the creation of a new place in the abandoned camp, the AΔA group thrives in its mission. That evening, the team is splits till the next endeavor, leaving the creative authors to wait for tomorrow's dawn above their deed...
Day X [Departure]
...On the last day of this creative travelogue, Stefan, the guests from Spain and the volunteers led by Marina Tarrús paint the wooden surfaces of the watchtower and embed a support for the vertical garden, which is planned for the spring. With this act, the job is finalized, the impressionss are summarized of and new acquaintanceships and new interpersonal contacts are made, which will bring news about this work to the north in days to come...
O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER / OBSERVATION POST) is conceived as a juxtaposition of two circular projections of two spatial elements: multifunctional watchtower and campfire. It is anticipated as a nexus of the place, ie, the axis of the gravitational field of the camp, which activates the abandoned space and offers content to the visitors. It is positioned in the middle of a spatial triangle formed by three dried birch (breza) trees, as the last three witnesses of the camp of the same name. By this act, at the symbolic and semantic level, the watchtower represents the reminiscence of this place, extending its spirit.
The formal-functional concept of the watchtower is inspired by the surrounding conifers, as well as the geography and contents of the mountain and its potentials. The pyramidal form is intended to fit into the existing mountain context at the cognitive level, complementing the mountain itself as an intervention in / on it. In this way, the observation post becomes the organic completion of the mountain, or its artificial peak.
The watchtower, as an object, consists of three vertically layered spatial-program levels, equally intended for plants, animals and humans:
Level 1 - on the ground floor, it is conceived as the ambience of a vertical garden (with integrated ladders leading to the second level), filled with forest and meadow climbing plants that make green membrane inside which the resting elements - logs and bench and playground element - swing*, as the light-motive of the O:TVORENO (O:PEN) concept, which direction is in the axis of the fire*, are placed. The flute detail inside the swing seat is set up as a personification of autochthonous music of mountain pastures, synthesizing swinging and playing activities.
Level 2 - free space intended for observation of the surrounding environment - mountain flora and fauna, night sky, as well as enjoyment in view from mountain heights.
Level 3 - the steep roof of the watchtower is the shelter and feeding place for the birds - the inhabitants of this ambient, also the additional thematic unit of the workshop.
In the artistic - aesthetic view, the observation post is conceived as a combination of natural wood used in the construction of the watchtower (pillars, beams, struts, rafters, binders) and white elements that form, unify and accentuate the program 's components or contents of the place: the plateau on the ground floor and camp fireplace of white stone; metal ladders and vertical garden made of alpinistic ropes as a support for climbing plants, with integrated car tires as gardeners; observation space wooden railing; roof - bird house.
...Waiting for the fertile part of the next year, when the plan is to complete vertical garden segment of the observation post (the rope tying and the vegetation planting), while O:TVORENO (O:PEN) is in the new places of its constant travel through time and space, the OSMATRALIŠTE (WATCHTOWER) is removed from the location of Breza Camp, and placed on Crni Vrh (Black Peak). With this unexpected act, the work that AΔA anticipated continues to live its own life in an original, logically and intuitively imagined spatial ambience, as a recreated mountain peak...
Crni Vrh (Black Peak), as the highest point of this part of Maljen Mountain, is originally conceived as the starting point for a spatial upgrade in the form of a new observation post as a new mountain peak. Moving to this location, O:TVORENO OSMATRALIŠTE (O:PEN WATCHTOWER) as a place, fulfills its contextual and conceptual discourse on two levels: initially (as a contemporary tendency in architecture) by activating the abandoned space of the auto camp, and now (in the form of archaic reminiscence) as an intervention in / on the mountain.
[location 2]
In sublime places, Homo Sapiens built his sanctuary, his watchtower, his observatory to justify his aspirations and understand his dreams and the infinite obscurity of the Universe. Homo Spiritus (Movens) found the ultimate outcome of his work in himself, in Little Prince, who has always been.
...Before the morning of the return from Divčibare, to another place on Earth and in the Universe, watching the night sky from the newly built O:pen Watchtower, Luka and Stefan, in self-awareness instead of a wish, noticed the shooting star that was traveling from the Artan peak, which later it turned out to be the asteroid B-612...
V
When the Little Prince had cleaned up his volcanoes, ripped out the last burgeons of the baobabs and watered the rose, he used the birds to leave his home, the asteroid B-612, in search of friends. On his way he passed through different worlds, a little larger than his own planet, in order to find some interest there and to complete his knowledge.
The first world was covered by the sea, with one single island in the form of a delta (Δ), where people lived in the camp. During the day, the inhabitants were rebuilding the camp, because the wind and sea waves would move the island every day, while at night they danced and rested by the fire...
On the second planet there was a bridge that crossed the whole planet, joining its beginning with its end. Below, the river flowed, where its mouth ended up at its source. Thus, this world was divided on two sides, where on one side, the inhabitants were playing and repairing the bridge, while on the other the residents were fighting and tearing it down...
The third world was completely covered with three baobabs and there lived a people who built tracks around the trunks and branches in order to be able to move and interact with each other. It would often happen that the same people were divided into three groups, discussing which baobab causes the greatest damage and in what direction their path should go. If there were conflicts, the baobabs would swallow a path between them, and then the people would unite and rebuild the tracks...
The fourth planet was split in half by the "Wall of Reality". The inhabitants were divided into the Reds and the Blues, where both of them claimed that their life was going on in reality. Both groups thought for themself that they were inside "The Wall of Reality" and that those others were outside. This division occurred some time ago, when the Blues claimed that the stars were growing out of the ground, while the Reds thought the stars were falling down from the sky...
In the fifth world there was a dark crater, almost as large as a quarter of the planet, over which the inhabitants built a huge lens to transfer the solar photons in the depths of the crater, illuminating the town inside it. By bringing in the light of thousands of stars within the planet, the Little Prince saw a mountain-planet, hoping to see new worlds from its peak and find friends in one of them...
The sixth planet was half a mountain in the shape of a tetrahedron and was uninhabited. The little prince succeeded in reaching its peak.
- Good afternoon - he said.
- Good afternoon... Good afternoon.... Good afternoon... - replied the echo.
- Who are you? - the Little Prince asked.
- Who are you?... Who are you?... Who are you?... - replied the echo.
- Be my friends, I'm alone - he said.
- I'm alone... I'm alone... I'm alone... - replied the echo.
The Little Prince began to follow the echo which took him to the planet of friends.
The seventh planet was, therefore, Earth. Earth is not any planet! There are hundreds of islands and camps, rivers and bridges, baobabs and tracks, thousands of realities in thousands of lenses on thousands of mountain peaks.
The birds landed on the roof of the watchtower at a mountain top, gently lowering the Little Prince on the ground. With a pencil in his hand, an ancient architect stood, a lonely man, staring at the observation post he had built. Though he won the views of earthly distances and heavenly heights, something was missing from his work. His thoughts were interrupted by strange little voice:
- Draw me the swing!
...At the beginning of autumn Stefan and Luka are staying in Belgrade, planning a project and a new workshop program, by o:pening (creating) a place in the neglected interior of the "Beton Hala" building, along the Sava River. While they are trying to find and provide funds for a new potential action, a call from Novi Sad happens...
...A friend from Spain, Marina Tarrús, spreads the news about the activities of the AΔA group, arranging a meeting with Filip Pajović, co-founder of the Student Cultural Center "Dom B-612"...
...After meeting and hanging out with Filip in Novi Sad, O:TVORENO (O:PEN) is in the home of Little Prince in mid-autumn...
Dom B-612 (Home B-612) is an alternative youth cultural center, founded by students in order to promote the culture and creativity of young people. It was created by reusing the abandoned space of a former Jewish public bath.
Since ancient times, public baths have represented places that, in addition to basic spa and wellness purposes, have played a significant role in the social and cultural life of citizens for the purpose of recreation, gathering and information exchange. In this sense, this space has retained the character of its spirit at a social, non-material level.
The flexible program scheme of the interior of this space functions as a place for presentations, projections, concerts, exhibitions, socializing and is open to new research and application of spatial and program potentials.
...Inspired by the fact that for the first time they will present their ideas and work to the public, AΔA plans a program of upcoming event. The experience with the children at the Playground and the Watchtower is intertwined and complemented with the Little Prince theme, so that in addition to the agreed contents - presentation and conversation, the group research the program potential of the given space and form a predictable, as well as non predictable architectural and artistic act, in relation to the actions of the O:TVORENO (O:PEN) initiative...
The concept of the event in the interior of the cultural center "Dom B-612" is formed by three permeating spatial-program segments, followed by a unique interactive worksheet:
01 PRESENTATION & PANEL-DISCUSSION
The first part of the program, which is embedded in an existing, or agreed spatial-programmatic framework, is composed of two parts:
a) Presentation of the former activities in the public space through creative process of the concept O:TVORENO (PLAYGROUND, WATCHTOWER).
b) Discussion about alternative educational models for children and youth through applied workshops in relation to modern technologies and rigid (inadequate) characteristics of the current education system.
02 FILM PROJECTION
The second part of the program continues with the screening of experimental documentary films O:PEN PLAYGROUND and O:PEN WATCHTOWER, followed by the experimental-artistic film B-612, with which the AΔA group shows its activities and research through the theme of the Little Prince, contextualising and expanding the program of its work in Dom B-612.
03 PERFORMANCE
In the third part of the program, the film B-612, as an audio-visual overture, is an introductory act for a new spatial intervention, manifested by the action of the group in the specific space of Dom B-612. This activity explores the utilization potential of the interior space by the thoughtful, multi-functional swing setting, as the concept O:TVORENO (O:PEN) light-motive and a new representation of the identity of the place of Little Prince.
...During the Novi Sad visit, the interlinking elements of the program are intertwined with informal conversations and socializing with other guests and participants of the event, which makes a network of close-minded people grow and encourages the public thematic appearances in the future...
***
...After visiting Dom B-612, O:TVORENO (O:PEN) was recognized as an experimental Altruistic, Activist Architecture and initiative of the AΔA [ada: art design architecture] group, whose project is based on the self-initiative act of architects and as well as the inclusion of:
a) local population in the educational process of designing and building
b) individuals of a wide multi-media spectrum in interdisciplinary, design-and-art engagements
in the public spaces...
...During the autumn and winter, the group continues the mission started at Dom B-612, being a guest at two theme-related events, prepared by Re:vita Collective:
1) Urban moves - exhibition & presentation of the collectives at Foundation for Youth, in Obrenovac
2) Renewed life of the building: past and new purpose at Ljubimac club, in Belgrade...
...By participating in these events, AΔA confirms its place in the context of creation in the public space, becoming part of its verity, because by an idea and act it is O:TVORENO (O:PEN) IN REALITY...
The Little Prince, like Spiritus Movens, once influenced the Man, today's Homo Sapiens, telling him the code of the Universe:
- It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
VI
"...In terms of representing Serbian architecture, the experiences of the Salon of Architecture in the framework of the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade are the most referential and in that sense its importance is growing so that participation in the Salon is participation in further building Serbian architectural culture. The Salon is a manifestation which has long since gone beyond the borders of its parent space, but it also records events surrounding it so that I cannot finish this short text without mentioning an architectural disappearance:
"The Jugopetrol Gas Station", a small but important sign in drawing of the square in front of the Museum of Applied Art which has for decades been there with the Salon of Architecture as an "exhibit" of its time, always exposed to our view through the large windows of the gallery of the Museum. The disappearance of this very small edifice of considerable architectural strength in composition with its miniscule dimensions is very visible today. The empty space in our memory, the empty space at the corner of the park - the Jugopetrol gas station made of red brick with a markedly protruding white roof with a rounded edge, which was supported by a white column rising from a white base, as the materialized strong element of an energetic form which hid within itself a tiny cabin only several square meters large, over the decades entered not only the landscape of the square but also the "landscape" of the Salon with which this small edifice courageously conducted a successful dialogue for years! Could this architecture have had a different purpose? Did it have to be torn down? Can we or do we have to adopt a different attitude towards heritage and the protection of small great works of our more recent past?" *
* Slobodan Danko Selinkić, Komunicirati arhitekturu 40 years / 36 times, Catalogue of 36th Salon of Architecture, Museum of Applied Art, 2014
(Translation from Serbian: Biljana Valašević)
...Returning from the "asteroid" B-612, encouraged by the realization of projects, in the form of two workshops, through the initiative of the O:TVORENO concept and participation in solo and group public representations of AΔA group activities, Stefan and Luka decide that their alternative contribution to architectural culture and the scene should be present at the 39th Salon of Architecture at the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade, in the category "Experiment and Research"...
"This year's 39th Salon of Architecture is themed by issue of the spatial relationship between the architect, the creator, and the phenomenon of reality, as the actual impossibility in relation to the current situation in the World - here and now. In other words, the reality is a certain kind of basis for the possibility of architecture, and at the same time it stands as its impossibility. " **
** Council of Salon of Architecture
...In preparation for the exhibition of the O:TVORENO (PLAYGROUND, WATCHTOWER) project, the duo of the AΔA group explores the theme of the Salon of Architecture - "in reality" and its immediate physical environment, guided by the idea of expanding and affirming the theme of its own action, as well as the theme of Salon, in the actual reality outside the walls of the Museum's institution and the relative passivity of the exhibition space through interactive spatial intervention...
O:TVORENO U REALNOSTI (O:PEN IN REALITY) is the research of the relationship between the AΔA group's concept-project and the current theme of the 39th Salon of Architecture, ie, the relation and interaction between the conventional (institutional) exhibition of work (showpiece) as a relatively passive act of action, chosen by the competition selection, and (unconventional) active spatial intervention. In this way, the project presented by the "experiment and research in architecture" category, instead of just representing a picture (poster) of action in reality, gets out of the exhibition space of the museum - outside, into the current, present reality, where it acts in the public space.
The Salon of Architecture in the Museum of Applied Art, its historical, thematic and catalog material, as well as its immediate physical environment for last four years, represent the conceptual and contextual framework of the research of the subject of the current theme - "in reality", in relation to the actions of the O:TVORENO (O:PEN) initiative:
2014 - 36th Salon of Architecture, 40 years since the founding of the Salon of Architecture
2015 - 37th Salon of Architecture, AFFIRMATION
2016 - 38th Salon of Architecture, OPEN
2017 - 39th Salon of Architecture, IN REALITY
or
Now, in reality, the project O:TVORENO (O:PEN), formed in March 2016 when it coincidentally, simultaneously (parallelly) shares the title with the current theme of the Salon of that year, shows its affirmation in its active one-year continuity, supplementing the text of Slobodan Danko Selinkić "Communicating architecture 40 years/36 times" through its characteristic spatial intervention. Instead of the usual presentation of an architectural project or work as a product, the authors try to show the whole act and mode of action as part of a process that is still in progress in reality.
...After opening and visiting the exhibition, Stefan and Luka come out to the Vojvoda Vuk Park, the so-called "Palas (Palace)" and through the "guerrilla" act of street art, they create spatial intervention as a public provocation - a homage to work of Ignjat Popović...
Spatial intervention O:TVORENO U REALNOSTI (O:PEN IN REALITY) as a spatial counterpoint to the material exposed in the form of poster within Salon, as well as its programmatic continuation, represents a reminiscence of the "Jugopetrol" Gas Station, a demolished work of the architect Ignjat Popović, by integrating and adapting Station's ground plan to the situation on the site.
Beside the dialogue between the "two realities", between the project presented at the exhibition and the spatial intervention in the outer space, as a relationship between the "inside" and "outside" of the Museum's institution, the intervention itself, at the corner of the Vojvoda Vuk Park, is conceived in the context of the relationship between the "three realities":
1) memory of the place occupied by the unique architectural work of the demolished gas station at the corner of the park;
2) the digital (virtual) reality of the current "google street view" that shows an empty space at the corner of the park as a "current" reality;
3) the real situation at the corner of the park at the time of the exhibition, where the place of the former Gas Station is occupied by the recycling glass container;
from which spatial intervention is conceived.
In spatial-programmatic terms, intervention in public space is conceived as a logical morphological ending of the corner of the park in the form of a micro plateau, mapped in white as a homage of the gas station layout, integrating the existing container within its geometry. By adding the swing as the characteristic leitmotif in the central area, a connection between the elements of the park - the tree, the plateau and the recycling mobilier is established, and a micro-ecological "urban stop" is formed ad hoc.
...An actively spent night in front of the museum is completed with the action of asphalt painting at the place of the former "Jugopetrol" Gas Station and by hanging the swing to the tree at the corner of the park. In the light of tomorrow's day, the return to the site follows, along with the observation of the positive effect of the last night's experiment through the windows of the neighboring café "Spring". While Luka and Stefan are having a drink for a successful intervention, interested in watching events in the museum and at the corner of "Palas", they realize that they are not "accidentally" in a catering facility of that exact name...
...In the meantime, while new idea about the o:pening of a well-known space emerges, the Little Prince, on his interstellar journey, encounters a mysterious black monolith. Instead of the B-612 coordinates, a space odyssey brings him in front of THE BLACK BOX at coordinates 1:6:12...
VII
The ancient man, today's Homo Sapiens, met a daybreak of his consciousness (awareness) and awakening of reason in contact with the mysterious "black monolith", opening the portal to Altamira, in the distant time before the burning of his first flame.
Millenniums later, at the present moment, the same "black box" - the carrier of record (code) od space odyssey stands on the coordinates of the interstellar space portal. On the one side stands the Man, the contemporary artist, on the other, the Little Prince, the child of the universe. At the same time, with their hands they both reach the "black monolith".
The field of portal is O:TVORENO (O:PEN) by contact. Only with the heart that Man can see rightly the code 1:6:12.
...In the spring of 2017, on the planet Earth, on the Internet, Stefan finds a contest for the "BLACK BOX" project within the Mikser Festival, which takes place in and between the silos, in the area of Žitomlin in Dorćol, in Belgrade. Faced with the current theme of the project "Fall into the Future", trying to solve the riddle of the BLACK BOX, he o:pens the portal to the other side, into the interstellar space of ideas, from where the coded message of the Little Prince comes...
“The "Black Box" platform was created in 2015 as an initiative for the support of young authors in the field of visual arts and the presentation of their creativity in the broadest public. With the current theme, each year more than 60 young authors selected at the competition by an expert jury are represented. The goal of the "Black Box" project is to point out problems that burden young creators in the contemporary social context, their empowerment to publicly express themselves and contribute to the solution of social problems and the improvement of community life through their visions. "Black Box" also emphasizes the importance of art installations in alternative urban spaces, their accessibility to a wide audience, and the connection of artistic practice with other spheres of life - science, technology, economics and society.
“The Black Box project has become an important platform for young and alternative artists who are often affirmed or professionally determined in the fields of architecture, design and other natural and social areas. Black box is a trip to something important, unspoken and sharp! This year, the contest was attended by artists of completely different education, age and affinity, which confirms our belief about an open platform that defines itself. The theme "Fall into the Future" is a dark hint of opportunities in the future and artists understood the context of the moment in which they exist. They come up with solutions of high artistic and aesthetic character, very different in the expression, and yet with a strong common denominator to defend the dignity of humanity and existence in understanding the alienated processes in which we live".
Under the symptomatic slogan "Fall into the Future", the Black Box 2017 exhibition shows the visions of the near future of a young generation of artists who stands on the ruins of institutional culture and is in a space without perspective, surrounded by walls of impossibility and restrictions for creative work. Although a synonym for consternation, the "Black Box" is at the same time a chance to accumulate energy necessary to demolish the walls behind which the future awaits us. What is this future, we will find out at the Mixer Festival, through the works of young creators whose powerful works comment on the social circumstances they seem to be unable to influence, but whose creative energy is still capable of triggering change”. *
* festival.mikser.rs
...In order for the Little Prince to continue his space odyssey by unlocking the black monolith, AΔA has to recreate the same black box on Earth, transforming the code into a concept, the concept into a spatial installation...
Concept:
Conceptually, the Black Box Odyssey is a reference to the representation of the monolith in the film story by Arthur Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, and refers to the trans-universal key of existence of/(and the connection between) the thinking man (homo sapiens), act/work, art and transcendental. Thus, through the black box, the dichotomy of the "Fall into the Future" theme communicates as an allegorical link between regression and progress, possibilities and impossibilities, problems and potentials, presented and hidden, clear and unclear, whose solution is in code 1:6:12.
The installation shows 1 black cube, stretched by chains on its 6 sides, as accumulated energy and overstressed matter, passive and unusable in space, showing the state of the overcome and burdensome conventions of the institutional culture and their effect on new generations of artists and the act of art itself in whose frameworks are often trapped and/or stretched.
Nowdays and the near future are the era of Remix culture, where act (of art) and work (of art) represent a constant regenerative collective activity, where they (the act and work), as material (data), process and medium (product), are recycled and updated in a continuous creative play (on the principles of digital tools of copy / cut and paste). It is this kind of play that inspires and reveals the last part of the code and the very essence of the art installation. By "tearing" six sides of the box into 12 equal parts, the tension is released and by intervention the stretched cube is divided into 12 swings, as active, usable elements - the symbols of the play of/and art, which are universal, wherever they are further set or appear as a place in the public space.
In this act (way), the artist and the child who swings equate themselves in the playing man (homo ludens), and the odyssey of one idea, through this play and interaction, communicates and becomes socially distributed (shared) as a meaning or code of culture.
Technical description:
The 60x60x60 cm cube is composed of 12 swings or 4 wooden boards: 60x30x3 cm, 54x30x3 cm and 54x27x3 cm, which are painted in black and interconnected with screws. On each board there are two U-threads (total 24) Ø 10 mm, fastened with nuts and washers at ~ 5 cm from the edge of the shorter side, linked with the 24 rows of chains (cables, ropes, etc.), which are connected to adequate elements on the site (silo, crane, wood ...) by use of appropriate anchors, carabiniers, etc. By developing the concept of play of/and remix, the product obtained is disassembled (decoded) by tools and becomes the second product - a swingville in the public space.
...While there is a threat for the Little Prince to be trapped forever in the gravitational field of the black monolith, events on Earth take place in a joint action in a short four-day period:
- Stefan takes the material for a black box and goes to Zvezdara, into a carpenter's workshop of Milan Gordić, with whose help he assembles the cube, which he carries to silos the next day.
- The next day the workshop team of the AΔA group: Luka Višnjić, Lazar Stanojčić and Đorđe Milosavljević Gera are setting up the installation inside the space of a silo cylinder, and during that time Boris Nestorović is filming material for a short film about this action.
- By opening of the festival, the exhibition opens, by opening of the exhibition the visitors collectively unlock the code of spatial installation O:TVORENO 1:6:12: ODISEJA CRNE KUTIJE (1:6:12: A BLACK BOX ODYSSEY).
- While on the last day of the festival Stefan and Luka o:penly share and exchange ideas in the "Black Box" discussion with Marko Lađušić, professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts, Dejan Miljković, professor at the Faculty of Architecture and other exhibitors, the Supernova of BLACK BOX gives birth to twelve swings that as a gift to other planets the Little Prince carries, on his journey IN THE SPACE OF FREEDOM...
Thus the "black monolith" made Man, today's artist, become the Spaceman, a Man of (Architectural) Space / Cosmos.
VIII
…After the Black Box blast, there is a stillness. Instead of releasing 12 swings, bringing new actions and interventions in the public space, the intensity of the creative verve of the AΔA group is experiencing its “reciprocal value”. The exhaustion of the ideas, the disappearance and the uncertainty of the survival of the past accomplished works are by no means the result of this situation, on the contrary, the ideas are increasing, but it is necessary to determine the priorities in decision making: In what direction are we going further? Who are we sending a message? What new action should be devoted to and with what means, in times of difficulty for self-initiative altruism and activism in the public space, in an environment in which it is hard to be recognized, pressured by basic existential obligations? The ancient man, today’s Homo Sapiens, hardly managed to dedicate his time exclusively to the painting and organization of the cave - the proto-architecture…
…In the meantime, on his journey, the Little Prince was approaching the planet of three baobabs, hoping that its inhabitants would use the swings to replace the faults in the interconnectedness of the built paths. On Earth, in February 2018, Stefan watched a Winter Olympics bob competition on television and recalled a photo of the abandoned “post-apocalyptic” space of bob-track in Sarajevo, built for the 1984 WOG, which he once found on the internet, imagining possible spatial interventions just in that place…
…When the Little Prince descended on the planet of Baobabs, on Earth, in March of the same year, Days of Architecture Sarajevo and LIFT - Spatial Initiatives invoked the survey architectural competition: THE SPACE OF FREEDOM, Bob and the sledge track on Trebević Mountain. This announcement caused a new spark of the need to regain the freedom of the group’s activities, returning its essential meaning. After less than a year, AΔA is gathering and O:TVORENO (O:PENly) continues its fight for public, and its own SPACE OF FREEDOM…
"Bob and sledge track on Trebević were built as part of preparations for the Winter Olympics, held in Sarajevo in 1984, after which the track is divided into three usable independent parts, in an attempt to adapt to the everyday needs of use. The war of the 1990s significantly damaged the track and only a concrete basin remained. For almost two decades this area has had the reputation of no man's land, an excess space outside jurisdiction. In this context, alternative ways of using the bob track are formed - first graphite drawing. It's a popular place for walking, running, photographing, extreme sports like down-hill cycling. It has made this path an informal symbol of a post-apocalyptic state and a popular image on social networks, as well as an inspiration for new scenarios of using and imagining an alternative present and future". *
* Days of Architecture Sarajevo, LIFT - Spatial Initiatives
"Sarajevo, on the bridge or above the chasm between the west and the east, is an interesting place to recognize the increasingly closed logic of both worlds. A place that has not yet been completely controlled, in which different scenarios are possible. A place where we can imagine some other future. A city waiting for a new authentic culture to be created out of a genuine need.
This year in May, on the Days of Architecture in Sarajevo, we are interested in advanced architectural researches, offset positions, the acceptance of the unembellished reality, resistance towards excessive control, playing with common practices, architecture that does not preserve its expert position, but is contaminated with other processes. We are attracted by the open logic of space, its unpredictable future, places that change along with life inside them, that are constantly reacting to their context, the structures that are emerging and growing together with people. We are looking for articulated attitudes that do not feel comfortable in the known. We are imagining cracks in the routine, digging up the Space of Freedom". **
** Days of Architecture 2018: "Space of Freedom", Sarajevo, topic abstract
Since the times of ancient Greece, the Olympics represented a period of peace and freedom among peoples, when, instead of conflict, games and / or playing took place. “It is important to participate, not win” as the motto of the Olympic Games is the starting point of the concept for defining the project task for the competition theme “Space of Freedom”.
Given the thematically broad and programmatically undefined project task, where the “framework of free space” itself is questioned, the project, as an open process, explores the theme through the concept of game and playing, creating a layered mix of new semantic-social-spatial-programmatic readings into the existing context of bob and sledge track.
Following its distinctive activist method, the AΔA group sets the project through the synthesis of indirect and direct involvement of third parties (current and potential users), personal analytical proposals and empirical action at the site itself in the form of spatial interventions:
O:TVORENO (O:PEN) IN SPACE OF FREEDOM
We can not define space and freedom.
They are large, wide, versatile.
The Space of Freedom is at least three times larger, wider, more versatile.
We can not control it, we can play with it (un)predictably.
What it presents for me, us, is equal for you.
It’s important to participate in the games.
The project sets and re-examines the topic through three approaches to three parts of the track.
1.0 Action and participation of citizens of all age structures who have the need and right to the Space of Freedom, (who may not be referred to the competition); who react and explore its potential through spontaneous use of the track and through their own ideas and suggestions of intervention, using cognitive - interactive maps of a given space.
They participate with us, they play, (un)predictable for us.
2.0 Reaction and design of multi-functional “plug-in” segments that, based on citizens participation and analysis of the existing track features, successively complements this infrastructure with the contents, turning it into architecture, increasing the “volume” of the Space of Freedom.
We participate with you, we play, (un)predictable for us.
3.0 Interaction and presence in the Space of Freedom, 1 to 1.
We set the swings, (un)predictable, because they are dashing; a universally accepted element of the game (playing) in the function of celebrating the game (playing) itself; and benches, as rest areas.
We are on the track, we open the Space of Freedom, we create a place for game and playing.
All are invited to participate; man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
…Days off during the Easter holidays, as well as the day of the city of Sarajevo and the opening of the cableway that leads to Trebević Mountain, the group AΔA: Stefan Radošević, Luka Visnjic, Lazar Stanojčić and Majda Ranitović use to visit the Space of Freedom - Bob and sledge track and set the spatial intervention, anticipating some of the possible scenarios that will appear in the first or the second segment of the project. The intervention was conceived in the form of a spatial composition of five swings attached to reinforced concrete construction, as allusions to five Olympic circles, and benches - resting places along the walkway of the track…
…During the three-day visit to Sarajevo, on the first day the team explores the track, its use and suitable ambients for unobstructed installation and future use of architectural intervention. Considering the conditions and possibilities for setting up a spatial composition, as well as the limited time available during the second day, the team reduces the original idea by setting two swings as an interactive pair and one resting bench at the intersection of the tracks. On the third day, when returning to Čačak, the group visits the place of yesterday’s action, looking at the first users of the new Space of Freedom…
…Arriving from Sarajevo, the axonometry drawings of bob and sledge track are approached and cognitive-interactive sheets/maps are prepared, after which Stefan and Luka are engaging Stefan Marjanovic, art teacher in the Ratko Mitrović elementary school, to extend the educational approach of the concept-project O:TVORENO into the school class. With this method, pupils of grades VI/1 and VIII/2, freely influence the project and the Space of Freedom with their ideas…
…By creating a layered research fund based on the observation of situation and action on Trebević, the implementation of child imagination and analysis of potentials, it is approached to the design of new elements of the track - the spine of space, as a series of micro-ambients, or places-events in space…
…The conventional approach to the architectural competition, accompanied by the involvement and cooperation of existing and potential users, as well as unconventional active intervention as a competition material, have given a reward to this proposal. Project O:TVORENO U PROSTORU SLOBODE (O:PEN IN SPACE OF FREEDOM) was shortlisted in the best seven works of the competition, which ensured participation in the Days of Architecture in Sarajevo, followed by a pecha kucha presentation of winning works…
“35 works from 11 countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, UK) arrived at the International Days of Architecture competition. This data shows that the importance of this space has been recognized by young professionals , not only from the region, but also far further.
The expert jury, consisting of Dinko Peračić - curator of Days of Architecture, Katarina Bošnjak from the organization Lift - Spatial Initiatives, Kenan Vatrenjak from Filter Architecture and Marija Simović from Studio Simović, selected 7 works for presentation within the program of Days of Architecture in May. Authors of works were invited to join the Days of Architecture in May, introduce and explain their thoughts through Pecha Kucha presentation and participate in the discussion.
Below is a jury comment on the works that passed the selection:
The authors worked well on defining a project task in terms of content by using a participatory method. Implementing children’s wishes into the project has led to an infantile and innocent narrative that defines space through play, recreation and entertainment, bypassing the narrative of the past which has become a burden in itself. The playing as a legitimate approach to see the space of the track as a space that is facing the future, where this freedom should be found. The work has noted an excellent relationship between the process and the results, which resulted in very precise and thoughtful suggestions. The project shows that very sensitive interventions can also be an open process, that they can be developed, modified. This is not just a suggestion, this is already an act”.*
* LIFT - spatial initiatives, AABH HUB
An ancient man, today’s Homo Sapiens-Faber-Ludens, carried an everlasting flame of first fire through Space and Time, Hearths and Olympics, opening portals of new places and events and gathering people and ideas, skills and deeds.
…With the opening of space and the creation of a place of freedom on the track of a layered cultural-historical and socio-political context, AΔA has expanded its play and its influence in front of the regional and international auditorium, o:pening an EYE (OKO) above Sarajevo and AROUND (OKO) Sarajevo…
IX
…One year after leaving Trebević, while Stefan and Luka are discussing about participation at one exhibition in Belgrade, where they see an opportunity to actualize the creative work of the AΔA idea in an original way, the spirit of the eponymous group still resides somewhere in the mountains above Sarajevo. Waiting for results on the computer screen is interrupted by an advertisement of another music festival with a generic identity at first, somewhere in the forests of the Balkans. However, a photograph of an amphitheater in the womb of the hill catches Stefan's attention, and a curious click on the link opens a call for intervention in space, which becomes a place for art installations...
Javorov Do, which lies on the western slopes of Bjelasnica near the ski track, is a developing site, intended for rest and recreation, formed by the mountain skiing sports association of the same name. In addition to its primary activities, this association also encourages artistic and creative activities through the annual Javorwood Festival.
What attracts attention is the fact that the site was created by an intervention in the space of two natural sinkholes in the hill itself, following their topographic-morphological logic and ambient character. In this way, two complementary units were obtained, where a deeper and more dramatic one, is defined by a stone amphitheater of extraordinary acoustics, while the other, wider and more spatially open, was transformed into a lake. It is precisely in the relationship between the two sinkholes and their programming features that the potential direction of the creative design challenge is read, where as a contrast to the amphitheater, which clearly builds harmony of form and function, stands the space around the lake as an open field for spatial-program interventions.
…Inspired by the possibility of a new intervention "in/on the mountain", where, unlike the Watchtower (Observation Post) at the top, this time it goes into the landscape "within" the mountain, Stefan explores the context of Javor Lake and submits the concept of the project, applying for the festival's "artist in residence" program...
...By the arrival of the summer, the Javorwood Festival invites the AΔA group to a few day artists' gathering in early August, opening the space to create a place with an interactive installation by the lake, and this time Stefan and Majda make a return team to Sarajevo in the upcoming venture...
Oko (the eye) on one side represents the lake itself in the landscape of the hill (while the other eye is an amphitheater), as the theme of spatial installation, but also the circular motion path around (oko) it. O:TVORENO OKO (O:PEN EYE/AROUND) is a conceptualization of the play of words and its meanings in a metaphorical and practical sense.*
* in Serbian, "oko" has two meanings: an eye & around
The project is based on the relationship between the existing installation of the watercourse on the lake and the circular motion of the path below it. O:TVOREN OKO instalation is located in the axis of the watercourse, on the opposite side of the lake, using the watercourse's spatial and formal logic, becoming part of a steep landscape.
As the watercourse, starting from a hill and ending on the pillars above the lake, creating a space for the path below, the spatial installation, consisting of five program modules, vertically sinks into the sloping terrain, following the incline of the landscape, while horizontally emerges from the ground and floats cantilevered over the lake. The modules form segments for different purposes:
1 - the bench - The first, the shortest, with an appropriate height, creates content intended for sitting and over viewing of the entire lake.
2 - the birdhouse - the second is for local ornithological fauna.
3 - the planters - the third is for local flora.
4 - the path - fourth, as the basic module, is intended for the below path which passes through undisturbedly, forming a new stopping (check) point in circular motion.
5 - the swing - the fifth module with its structural and disposition characteristic - the console, interrupts the set structural dynamics, leaving a place for the O:TVORENO concept leitmotif, intended for the summer's barefoot swinging over the lake water.
In terms of interactivity, the installation subtly "breathes" with the surrounding natural environment by reacting with users through the first, fourth and fifth segment, while together with the water surface of the lake, reacts with the occurrence of a breeze on the second and third segment, gently rotating the content elements around its axis.
In artistic - aesthetic view, the installation was conceived as a combination of lacquered wood applied to the supporting structure (columns and continuous beam), based on the existing watercourse (which blends into the color of the lake and surrounding greenery), and the blue for recycled, recoded materials - car tires of content elements, as the accents in the sky color. In this way, a harmonious picture of the overall landscape is achieved.
" ...Since Javorwood is still a not-for-profit project, the festival covers the cost of the trip, accommodation and food for all days of stay ...
...As for the project itself, for the Javorov Do landowner the swing is still questionable, because of the slippery terrain below, so be prepared for possible changes to the project. When arriving, visiting and analyzing the terrain, you would sit down with him once again and agree on the final appearance of your construction...
Best regards,
Ida Keskic,
Creative Director & Program Manager "
...With complete uncertainty regarding the materials and location conditions for project completion, AΔA accepts the challenge. On Wednesday, the last day of July, the team packs everything they can take from tools, colors and content elements and sets out on the journey of Bjelašnica...
...Arriving late in the afternoon, the team settles into a mountain lodge nearby the lake, meeting with hosts, artists of different profiles, as well as very warm-hearted Bosnian construction workers working on the neighboring cottage. After the welcomes, the group grabs the opportunity to visit the lake before the dark, where a pleasant surprise awaits, followed by a sense of relief.
The silhouette of the installation construction is reflected on the lake. The day before, using the concept of the proposed 3D visualization, these same workers have raised a wooden structure on a steep slope, slightly adjusting its segments to the conditions on the terrain (the path and the slope) and structural characteristics of the material used (oak beams 8x8 cm)...
...With two car tires they managed to pack in their car, Stefan and Majda spend Thursday morning to get off the mountain and search for tire vulcanizing workshops. Thus, crossing for several times the imaginary borders between Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska just in a few kilometers, they find two more discarded tires while an interesting idea finds them, sometime in the future.
The second part of the day is spent for painting and preparing content elements...
...Friday, as the most creatively active day, takes place in connecting elements with bearing construction segments, followed by inconspicuous sunburns from the intense mountain sun and the "drama" of demanding hard oak drilling while setting up the swing.
After the placing meadow flowers in the planters and the first swinging barefoot on a "disputed" place over the lake, all fatigue becomes easier, while peace and smile follow the end of the venture...
...Saturday is a festival day, dedicated to relaxing with artists and enjoying the music program and the result of creative action. What stands out this afternoon is "The Theater of the Inconceivable" performed by Iva Korbar. The nature of her concept is the interaction and play with nature, in this case the performance on the lake, where O:TVORENO OKO installation itself and Iva's passing through its fourth segment become one of the key points of performance....
...Looking at the mutual performance of the installation on the breeze and the artist in the lake, and realizing that the space between the two pillars, intended for pedestrian communication and filled with wind chimes, unpredictably becomes part of the new content, the spatial quality and beauty of one place opens up, as well as the potential that it can always become a NEW PLACE...
X
"The wider site of the competition is the contact zone along the eastern edge of the park, the sports complex of the Tatra Football Club. The narrower site, which is the subject of the competition, is the space at the main entrance to the park, east of the walkway leading to the summer stage. Within this space it is necessary to propose the arrangement of a zone for gathering of citizens (sitting), exhibiting of products (in the form of a small market) with the accompanying elements of an urban furniture. The solution should define the greening of the area , the lighting appropriate to the park and proposal of paving, which can also be used as a model matrix for paving other paths in the park. Within the narrower scope of the site, there is a public restroom whose remodeling and moving within this space is advisable." *
* Description of locations for the New Places Competition - 46 urban pockets
…For the third year in a row, in September 2019, the "Novi Sad 2021" Foundation and the Association of Novi Sad Architects (DANS) are hold the "Nova Mesta (New Places)" , the urban-design call for improvement of small public spaces in the territory of the city of Novi Sad, when Stefan takes part in a series of these competitions for the second time. However, unlike the standard design approach to the competition assignment, this time Stefan is experimenting with both the concept of the competition work and its content, introducing active site involvement into the product of his competition material. Like the action on the bob and sled track on Trebević, a practical approach to the competition is self-initiated as a personal condition for participation in the competition, making AΔA and its members the first ones in this area to act in architecture in this way. Prior to intervening in the park forest perimeter of the Kisač local community, Stefan is playing with the concept, designing an "outdoor social network"...
CONCEPT
"Survey participants emphasize that the mentality of the residents of Kisač is that the locals generally spend time at home - children on social networks, and adults following a television program."
SOCIAL NETWORK
Forest Park in Kisač Local Community is defined as a gathering place for citizens of all ages. However, at the border between the forest and the landscaped park, this site is "in transition" as an undefined public space, for which citizens' need for socialization and new contents is recognized. It is this need that transforms the problem into potential, so the solution is conceptualized as an open-air social network. The social network, as an online space for meeting, content exchange and leisure, is becoming a new place, materialized in the physical space of the park. The social network, as a regenerative remix of various contents, implies a transformable spatial programming scheme and the possibility of updating it, available to different users in a continuous timeline.
The forest park, on which the proposed site is located, is seen as an open network whose basic units of structure are tree trunks, between which the flow and connection of natural and social contents take place. Cut, copy and paste digital tools are interpreted as principles of design methodology.
SPATIAL SCHEME
The spatial concept of the project is conceived as a modular network of variable raster of the basic unit of structure - the trunk, i.e. its variable height and disposition (density), depending on the potential content - program zones.
Trunks, as nodes of a spatial scheme, are connected by content elements that, as links, mutually form spatial ambiences - program zones. Within the transformable network, trunks are positioned and programmed to support and combine different sets of pre-determined content elements (project-defined), as well as to embrace new, unpredictable elements (by addition and improvisation in the future). In this way, the social network, as an open spatial-program system, enables different variations depending on the actors, number and type of basic units of the structure and content elements, ie size, layout and combinatorics of the program zones, as well as the existing situation on the site (layout of the park greenery, trail, etc).
At the proposed site, the intervention zone contents concentrate and overlap along the existing dirt path which remains undisturbed by designed elements whose network tends to extend inland to the park forest. Initially, it is generated as the program optimum version of the contents the participants cited. In order to achieve a unique spatial composition of the park greenery and the designed structure, it is envisaged to plant additional low and high vegetation on the perimeter of the park.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
For the intervention at the site, for the basic units of the structure - trunk, a module of 300 cm was initially taken, which represents the width of the dirt path connecting the access to the location at the vehicle entrance of FC "Tatra" to the motor club "Kisač Crows". The module width, as a common denominator, is convenient for supporting various smaller modules: 50/75/150 cm and / or 30/60 cm for content element positions within the network. The trunks, as nodes of the modules they create, are made of 15 cm thick wooden poles with vertical modularity: 25/50/100/150/200/250/350/450. The disposition and combinatorics of trunks, as well as the content elements between them, leads to the development of the concept and the variability of programming zones.
In addition to greenery, a stone cube has been proposed for the flooring, which, with its technical and aesthetic characteristics, is suitable as a paving in the natural ambience of the park. Its formation and occupation within the modular network is initially free, depending on the layout of ambient zones. In addition to the program contents, it is used for the access path and can also be considered as an element of paving throughout the park.
Content elements, ie program zones, are concentrated within the field of intervention at the site, but some, which are general, can be extended further into the park: lighting columns along the path, bins, benches, tables, etc. In addition to the design elements, the project also envisages additional greening of the perimeter of the park, between the driveway and the adjacent parcel of the football field.
…By setting the project optimum of the wide variability solution, Stefan and Majda fill the trunk with prepared materials and tools and go to Kisač. Along the perimeter of the park, in the central part of the competition site, Stefan sets up a segment of the spatial-program concept, the so-called 3D model in a 1:1 scale, as an object of use, an urban furniture…
The structure of installation consists of three trunks, interconnected by three content elements:
1) swing (E8.1) - O:TVORENO concept-project leitmotif, segment of playground zone (Z3)
2) bench (E5.1.1) - segment of rest and recreation zone (Z2)
3) birdhouse (E3.1) - segment of all zones, intended for park residents
In art and aesthetic terms, the installation is mostly left in the natural texture of the wood, while certain accents of the content elements and their spots of links (connections) are painted in the colors of the competition graphics, that is, the colors of programmatically pre-determined and unpredictable sets.
…By refining the park's neglected space, AΔA manages to surpass its own goal of participating in this competition, forming another (ad hoc) NEW PLACE on its o:pen journey, which will in a few days lead to a Jury Award in the form of Honorable Mention...