Preface:
Set within the context of ever-increasing human mobility, the globalization of the 21st century, and the concept of the Radicant1 developed by Nicolas Bourriaud in 2009, the studio of the same name – run by Caroline Sohie and Cecilia Chiappini; explored the connection between migration, cultural identity and the built environment. This booklet is the third and last part of this exploration which focused on the identity of immigrants, more importantly expatriates2, and the influence of the various cultural background experienced over time.
Identity is developed through the socialization process and the influence of social institutions like family, friends, the education system and the media. By building our own identities and learning about the identities of other individuals we come to comprehend what makes us similar to some people and different from others, and therefore form social connections with them.3 Culture refers to the language, values, customs, norms and beliefs which is observed throughout a group of individuals over time and space. And similarly to identity, it is formed through the process of learning from others.4 Nowadays globalization has made it easier to travel, to cross borders and to migrate to other countries, sometimes across the world. The effects of this have led to a ‘mixification’ of culture within places and resulted in hybrid cultures within certain individuals or groups.
1 ‘To be radicant means setting one’s roots in motion, staging them in heterogeneous contexts and formats, denying them the power to completely define one’s identity, translating ideas, transcoding images, transplanting behaviours, exchanging rather than imposing.’ – Bourriaud, Nicolas. Radicant: Pour Une Esthétique De La Globalisation. Paris: Denoël, 2009. Print.
2 Skilled individuals requested by a company to move to a certain foreign location in exchange for paid expenses and a salary. They settle there for a period which is defined by their employment contract, which is usually between 3 to 5 years.
3 Baoli, Maria. (2007). In Between. Brussels
4 Foreign Agent. (2020). Migrant, (6).
This is especially true for ‘third-culture kid’ which have negotiated the culture from their parents and the one(s)’ of the country(-ies) they live in, to generate their own cultural identity. This may result in a feeling of estrangement with one’s surrounding. But the fact is, it also more than often results in the sensibility to other culture, and openness towards individuals which are different.
The following proposal seeks to generate this process of openness towards individuals who are different from us. The project aims to reunite people of various cultural background under the same roof which will undoubtedly provoke meetings between the residents. These are hoped to result in a sharing of ideas, identities, and opinion amongst the individuals ‘under this roof’; and through this process to develop connections within individuals which are different.