Polder Cup is a one-day football championship in the polders. The special features of the typical Dutch landscape imply that the football pitches are crossed by water channels or that the field is muddy, which requires adapting the rules and inventing new strategies for the game. Thus, a standard global practice is reinvented by inserting it in a specific context, acquiring a local character.

“The facade of the Witte de With art institute in central Rotterdam was adorned with a grass-green banner featuring images of meadows marked with white lines and criss-crossed with straight ditches. Together, the meadows formed four football pitches, one large and three smaller, and the chalk lines appeared ragged compared to the perfectly straight lines of the ditches. The ditches divided the playing fields into asymmetrical blocks that were dotted with hollows and bumps. The banner invited passersby to participate in a football match in the polder, but the unconventional playing fields were a warning that the rules would have to be adapted to suit the situation.

Passersby were confronted by the changes to the rules and the disruption of recognisable scenes. The football pitches re-divided the familiar landscape of parcelled polders, and the ditches and the marshy ground that characterise this typically Dutch landscape determined how the game was played.

(…) As well as being demarcated by the white chalk lines, the boundaries of the football pitches were delimited by real corner flags and real goalposts. Balls that ended up in the ditches were recovered with nets and missed shots were retrieved from the banks using canoes and oars.

(…) The game activated and actualized the geometric polder landscape of ditches and meadows, investing it with a degree of individuality. The event transformed, in De Certeau’s words, a stable and incontrovertible ‘place’ (lieu) into a dynamic ‘space’ (espace).

(…) In Polder Cup the tall grass, the pollen and the squishy ground restricted the players’ movements. The ditches not only transect the pitches, but the presence of water also meant that the official rules of the game have to be ‘rectified’. Players were not allowed to leap over the ditches, which meant a defender could never move to the opposite side of the pitch. Consequently, the players had to discuss and revise their tactics and devise new strategies in the heat of the moment, without them being formalized.”

+ Information

Images: Maider López

Text: Ilse van Rijn

La entrada Polder Cup | Football pitches in the Dutch polder | Maider López se publicó primero en More Than Green.

The installation qualitatively improves the experience of public transport users by making the waiting time more exciting.

This permanent project was conducted by Chilean artist Tania Ruiz in 2010 at the Central Railway Station in Malmö (Sweden). The action is part of a larger-scale project undertaken by the administration of the City Tunnel (Citytunneln), infrastructure to which this station belongs, in collaboration with the Swedish National Public Art Council. The overall project was born from the decision to eliminate advertising in all areas of the tunnel and replace it with art installations.

“The Citytunneln administration views installation art as a strategic ally since it believes that it can actively contribute towards the well-being of its users. This, then, encourages the use of public transport and reduces traffic in private cars, effects which are fully in keeping with the Malmö urban plan which strives for economic and ecological sustainability.”

In this line, the “Elsewhere” installation makes the waiting time until the arrival of the train more exciting, improving the experience of the public transport user.

“Elsewhere is a multi-projection video art work which seeks to transform the reinforced concrete landscape of the Malmö C underground station into a wide open space.”

“Through a projection device that evokes the perceptual experience from the train, the viewers will be invited to lose themselves in images during their wait. The projections acting as windows, the station itself becomes a train that loses its spatial and temporal rails, itinerant across the earth.”

Although sometimes this kind of artistic projects may seem anecdotal or irrelevant, they are actually able to positively affect the quality of the urban space and enhance citizens’ perception of the city and its infrastructures.

In this sense, the administration of the City Tunnel proves to be aware that the improvement of public transport should not be exclusively focused on quantitative criteria (distance to station, frequency, punctuality, speed…), but also on qualitative aspects that significantly affect citizens’ decision on what means of transport they want to use.

“In terms of tempo, [‘Elsewhere’] is conceived as a release for the individual viewer. The recorded images are slowed down, in contrast with the speed of everyday urban life, in order to ease the experiential flow of time”.

(+info)

La entrada Elsewhere| Video art installation at a railway station | Malmö, Sweden se publicó primero en More Than Green.

Women Are Heroes is a project carried out between 2008 and 2009 in different cities in Africa, Brazil, India and Cambodia by French artist JR, winner of the TED Prize in 2011.

The project recognizes and highlights the social role of women in these areas of conflict, celebrating their heroism from an expressive and optimistic approach. Stunning portraits of local women make their unfortunate stories come to light and become the protagonists of the urban landscape to which they are linked. In this way, the interventions seek to support the resilience of the female community and achieve social awareness.

“In order to pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society but who are the primary victims of war, crime, rape and political or religious fanaticism, JR pasted huge photos of the faces and eyes of local women all over the outside of the favela, suddenly giving a female gaze to both the hill and the favela”.

“We had to adapt to this world where the roofs of houses are made of plastic and children’s revolvers are made of steel. We managed to get by in spite of the steep streets, the unsteady houses, the unpredictable electric cables and the exchanges of gunshots”, pointed out JR regarding the intervention in the Moro de Providencia favela in Rio de Janeiro.

Finally, all these experiences were collected in a documentary and a book.

(+info: JR)

(+info: the book)

(+info: the documentary)

(via The Guardian)

La entrada Women Are Heroes | JR se publicó primero en More Than Green.

A few months ago we published this post about the development and manufacture of a technological ground which converts the kinetic energy generated by footsteps into renewable electricity and could be used for lighting, communication networks, etc. as well as be stored for later uses.

In this case we show a practical application of this kind of ground in a context of deficiency and precariousness in public services. In the favela of Morro da Mineira, Brazil, the football field incorporates this technology and thus becomes the first football field illuminated by the energy produced by players’ footsteps.

“Pavegen has installed 200 tiles into a local football pitch redeveloped by Shell in Morro da Mineira, a favela which has not benefitted from tourism and private enterprise development in Rio de Janeiro.“

(Via Marketing Deportivo)

La entrada Lighting a football field with the energy of players’ footsteps se publicó primero en More Than Green.

At last, 23 years after the original project and the conditioning of the slopes of the river are completed, from the 1^st to the 8^th of August, the “Proyecto Víbora II” will be reactivated in Elche. An environment, the rivers, which has always been the heart of the city of palm trees and will received multiple plastic artists, graffiti artists and collectives who will collaborate on a mural that will break records (2.800 km long and 14.5 of width).

Elche, a city that has always been committed to the art and culture, will turn to the initiative. So much that according to laverdad.com “It is estimated that at least a hundred participants will shape the new mural, which will look similar to the scheme of 1991. The itinerary is divided into plots and each will have their own design and a group assigned for realization” Definitely, this is a great social movement in art and cultural sustainability of the municipality of Elche.

“During the summer of 1991, Artists from Elche, other parts of Spain and even foreigners, with remarkable presence of members of the Danish group for Livet-Kunst, answered the call of Esbart Zero (Casto Mendiola, Andreu Castillejos, both deceased, and Juan Llorens) to fill with colour the riverbed  in its channeled urban section.

That was then denominated “Proyecto Víbora” due to the sinuous path which simulated a snake, this project brought together over one hundred participants, who recorded, on both sides of the central canal, varied colorful scenes, which are today nearly imperceptible. But that will change this summer, because the “Víbora II” is already underway, which urban graffiti artists will materialize from the1^st to the 8^th of August.”

“For the first time in the history of the local paint, we placed in the open, with ephemeral nature, a collective work of gigantic proportions (which will be embodied in the Guinness Book of Records as ‘the world’s largest Mural’), 1,200 meters long and 14,5 wide and performed throughout the multicultural spectrum that could be presented: from the muralists form all around the world,  through easel painters, up to the participation of housewives and children. An art monument inclusive in times of globalization” Juan Llorens explained in August 2010, after several attempts to repeat this artistic and cultural initiative in the bed of the river Vinalopó.

It seemed that this year, due to the commemoration of the birth of the poet Miguel Hernández, was going to be conclusive for the “Vïbora II” coordinated European estates being prepared with aid in the form of grants, city hall, paint companies, sponsors and especially multiple artists excited with the ambitious project.

But yet immersed in issues such as the thematic link with the commemoration of the poet, wanting to beat the record of the Guinness Book, the division of the surface into parcels, or coordinating “the participation of all the living forces: children, amateur painters, theatre and plastic artists, musicians, graffiti writers, poets and people in general “; problems arose.

At the time, an organization of a competition for action on the slopes of the river is approved, “El valle trenzado” was chosen, a scenic performance proposed by “Grupo Aranea”. Performance which was going to respect the dry riverbed (owned by the “Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar”), but would obstruct and would preclude the artistic action due to the need to fence the perimeter of the river banning the pedestrian access and due to the traffic and the heavy machinery on the surface dedicated to the project, “weather it was painted or not.”

Finally, the project comes out ahead and will add its character to the delicacy of the project developed by “Aranea”, winner this year of the FAD prize category and city landscape. Undoubtedly, a great, cultural and architectural legacy for the city of Elche.

If you would like participate, just fill out the form you’ll find on the official website of the event.

(via laverdad.es)

(+info)

La entrada Vibora II Project | Elche se publicó primero en More Than Green.

“Two acres of wheat planted and harvested by the artist on the Battery Park landfill, Manhattan, Summer 1982. After months of preparations, in May 1982, a 2-acre wheat field was planted on a landfill in lower Manhattan, two blocks from Wall Street and the World Trade Center, facing the Statue of Liberty. Two hundred truckload of dirt were brought in and 285 furrows were dug by hand and cleared of rocks and garbage. The seeds were sown by hand adn the furrows covered with soil. the field was maintained for four months, cleared of wheat smut, weeded, fertilized and sprayed against mildew fungus, and an irrigation system set up. the crop was harvested on August 16 and yielded over 1000 pounds of healthy, golden wheat.

Planting and harvesting a field of wheat on land worth $4.5 billion created a powerful paradox. Wheatfield was a symbol, a universal concept; it represented food, energy, commerce, world trade, and economics. It referred to mismanagement, waste, world hunger and ecological concerns. It called attention to our misplaced priorities. The harvested grain traveled to twenty-eight cities around the world in an exhibition called “The International Art Show for the End of World Hunger”, organized by the Minnesota Museum of Art (1987-90). The seeds were carried away by people who planted them in many parts of the globe.

The questionnaire was composed of existential questions concerning human values, the quality of life, and the future of humanity. The responses were primarily from university students in various countries where I spoke or had exhibitions of my work. Within the context of the time capsule the questionnaire functioned as an open system of communication, allowing our descendants to evaluate us not so much by the objects we created—as is customary in time capsules—but by the questions we asked and how we responded to them.

The microfilm was desiccated and placed in a steel capsule inside a heavy lead box in nine feet of concrete. A plaque marks the spot: at the edge of the Indian forest, surrounded by blackberry bushes. The time capsule is to be opened in 2979, in the 30th century, a thousand years from the time of the burial.

There are, still within the framework of this project, several time capsules planned on earth and in space, aimed at various time frames in the future.” (source text and pictures-copyright: Agnes Denes)

(+info)

(via Agnes Denes)

La entrada Wheatfield: a confrontation | Agnes Denes se publicó primero en More Than Green.

“Dutch land artist Will Beckers creates magical installations that explore our relationship with the natural world. He uses living natural materials and thinks of himself as a “part-time artist”, as his art is always finished by Nature itself. His whimsical sculptures are made for people to enjoy but also serve as shelters for woodland animals and insects.”

(+info)

(via inhabitat)

La entrada Whimsical sculptures | Enchanted forest |Dutch Willowman se publicó primero en More Than Green.

____

Title: DIARY OF AN ARCHITECT

School: UNIVERSITY OF ALICANTE

Tutor: ENRIQUE NIETO

Year: 2013

 ____

Why have I made ​​this project?

Diary of an architect comes from a dissidence from the FCP model of producing architectures that analyze static presents to give as a final solution a delimited and finished architectural object.

Pretending to analyze or generate a particular context from which take action was losing entity on behalf of recording my own daily intervention on reality, always encouraged by a political responsibility. Only that could be my FCP.

What is it?
Diary of an architect operates as a manual of architectural insurrection.

The diary records, operates and intervenes on present conflicts and processes that I have registered and intervened over a year in Madrid, extracting from them successes and mistakes which may serve to reproduce and deploy, while they are always dynamic, imperfect and incomplete.

Diario de una arquitecta from Verónica Francés on Vimeo.

How have I made​​ it?

Three parts record the three main lines of the project:

1. Contrageography: the construction of a cartography and a pictoric map of photographs that crystallize and describe the present reality of Madrid counterpower spaces related to housing problems.

(full document ‘Contrageography’)

2. Vestiario: zero cost domestication of 170 m2 industrial use that six people have reappropriated as living and cultural production space, adding as a Contrageography node.

(full document ‘Vestiario’)

3. Direct action: defending the housing rights through direct actions carried out with various assemblies / collectives pinpointed on the Contrageography.

(full document ‘Direct action’)

A quarter part of the project records interactions and is oriented to the production of feedback and real testing.

(full document ‘Diary of an architect’)

1. CONTRAGEOGRAPHY

The development of a Contrageography borns from the need of connecting different local nodes which are working in several dynamics of resistance facing the housing problem. Many of these nodes remained invisible outside its local context and it didn’t happen a smooth transmission of knowledge despite of having a common practice.

As an architect who also operates inside that network, following the detection of this problem, my role has been the intermediation, deploying my own tools for the intervention in the reading of the territory. The goal was not centralize but to enhance these hyperlocalisms: geolocate us to position ourselves on the map and visualize and consolidate a distributed network.

This Contrageography has been developed thanks to the networking of their own actants, resulting an ownership and involvement in the process of each node in an interest to locate them and locate the rest, producing a text document in group that could be editable at real-time (data, location…).

Then my work has been to map them, counterposing the map of public spaces regulated by the Town Hall, in an open and downloadable document. Generating the map itself serves as a tool for reading, interpreting and visibilizing interrelationships over the territory with a critical narrative, which legitimizes the preparation. The feedback generated from this open document verifies its usefulness in real life.

2. VESTIARIO

The domestication of an industrial space (V-estiario)  emerges from the housing need of six people who seek to transgress the established model of housing. It was intended not only to operate as a domestic space but to add a new node of cultural, social and political production: a housing function is added to self-management of space by events born of self-interest or shared with other groups or communities.

All space actants are involved in domestication from their particular knowledges. My contribution has not been to resolve a housing problem as a given and finished solution. It has been to explore and record dynamics and processes of appropriation of space in a continuous testing in real life. The constant reconstruction of the space through photographs, texts and mappings of its elements do not only serve as a record of, but also as building of future presents, as a production methodology, to sum up, as a continuous testing of a way of building  our own reality.

Besides intermediating through lacks of space using barters, donations and occasional purchases, also architectural intervention was necessary according to the traditional understanding of the term. We opted for the self-construction, which enables a collaborative learning process and empowerment. Construction manuals that have been generated serve as crystallization process. Thus, the produced information becomes a common resource for knowledge. It generates an open source architecture where these manuals are shared in affinity networks. The process is replicable but also reapropiable and modifiable.

The Vestiario record also serves as a testing and tool for the construction of new spaces related to a broader community with the transmission of our own experiences to new groups emerged in Madrid that have been reappropriated and implemented this housing model.

3. DIRECT ACTION

Participation in direct actions in defense of the housing rights with different assemblies and collectives is related with the actual operation on the territory. Also with the physical and social presence based on power structures which are everywhere, since they are provided by and produced everywhere. With active social participation in self-organizing processes as part of reappropriation of power.

The design and subsequent recording of daily strategies of resistance is also an effort to draw, record and produce socially useful knowledge about modes of political confrontation in the city in order to reach a common understanding of the territory we inhabit, to a shared reality where we can work together.

In most cases, this shared understanding of the territory has been orally transmitted at affinity circles: how to occupy a building aided by a support group, how to occupy a bank to encourage negotiation, how to make a ‘escrache’ … These actions can clearly operate with or without the graphic mapping of themselves, as this oral transmission has been internalizing the ways to make over the territory in similar communities (though often using descriptive tools such google maps, cadastral maps, sketches of area…)

The fact of working in various operations has meant that my contribution in strategic planning is to abstract those seated concepts in a symbology (types of spaces, flows, types of actions, roles …) for their use in own or exportable plannings. Not to be necessarily an architect to intervene on planning, but to provide an exportable tool in reading the territory, reappropriated verbally or in extended free use applications like Google Maps, to be replicated outside of local circles of affinity.

(+ info: domesticidadcompartida.tumblr.com)

La entrada FDP | Diary of an architect | Verónica Francés se publicó primero en More Than Green.