O:TVORENO

site context:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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concept & program:

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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:

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01 PRESENTATION I PANEL-DISCUSSION

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The first part of the program, which is embedded in an existing, or agreed spatial-programmatic framework, is composed of two parts:

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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.

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02 SCREENING

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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.  

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03 PERFORMANCE

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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.

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process chronicle:

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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.

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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... 

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​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...

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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 themselves 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...

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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...

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The sixth planet was half a mountain in the shape of a tetrahedron and was uninhabited. The little prince succeeded in reaching its peak.

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- 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.
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The Little Prince began to follow the echo which took him to the planet of friends.

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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.

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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:

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​- Draw me the swing!

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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.

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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".

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After meeting and hanging out with Filip in Novi Sad, O:TVORENO (O:PEN) is in the home of Little Prince in mid-autumn.

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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.

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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.

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***

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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The Little Prince, like Spiritus Movens, once influenced the Man, today's Homo Sapiens, telling him the code of the Universe:

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- It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.