< terug

Marta Gruca: About:blank: In a Search for the (Other) Incipience: Twelve Design Metaphors: Noisy-Le-Grand (FR)

A journey of constant inquiry.

What is a border?
How are antonyms synonyms?
How can the ugly seduce? What is ugly then? How can the in-between be isolated?
How ‘belonging to everyone’ belongs to no one? Is empty really that empty?

About:blank embraces a meta reflection about the fields of exploration – the unknown room, the unknown edifice and the unknown city. It uses, initially, analogous allegories, and further, design metaphors as a medium to question the status quo and as a demonstration of the conventions which govern in the city of Noisy-le-Grand. The employment of the provocative and fictionally narrations become a tool to open up the awareness of the city’s complexities and absurdities.

The starting point is the ‘unknown edifice’, Les Espaces d’Abraxas (Ricardo Bofill, Noisy-Le-Grand, Paris, France). This enigmatic, emblematic edifice serves as a point of departure which triggers a designerly reflection on how the built environment shapes our mind, how it influences our behaviours and perceptions. The design-led explorations expose architecture as a performative object, as an active actor of space and an incipience for thoughts and imagination.

About:blank