O:TVORENO

context:

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"...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:

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"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?" *

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* 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)

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"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

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thematic framework:

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O:TVORENO 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. 

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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 initiative:

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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 (OTVORENO)

2017 - 39th Salon of Architecture, IN REALITY

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or

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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.

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spatial concept:

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Spatial intervention O:TVORENO 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.

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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":

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1) memory of the place occupied by the unique architectural work of the demolished gas station at the corner of the park;

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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;

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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;

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from which spatial intervention is conceived.

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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. 

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process chronicle:

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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".

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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location coordinates:   44°49'00.5"N 20°27'16.0"E