O:TVORENO

context:

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"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". *

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* Days of Architecture Sarajevo, LIFT - Spatial Initiatives

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"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.

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​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". **

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** Days of Architecture 2018: "Space of Freedom", Sarajevo, topic abstract

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concept:

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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”.

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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.

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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:

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O:TVORENO IN SPACE OF FREEDOM

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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.

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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.

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They participate with us, they play, (un)predictable for us. 

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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.

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We participate with you, we play,  (un)predictable for us.

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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.

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process chronicle:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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Below is a jury comment on the works that passed the selection:

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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”.*

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* LIFT - spatial initiatives, AABH HUB

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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.

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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…

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