Our work
deals with mundane urban public spaceand its
transitory nature as a reflection of moregeneral
social processes.In spatial
and sculptural site-specific interventionswe tackle
issues around the public domain,grass root
participation and self-organization, marketeconomics,
mobility, shelter, sustainability, and the scarcity
of resources. The potential for socialconflict is
inherent in all of these. We get involvedand present
a range of possible, practical, low-level solutions
that can be implemented with very fewresources.
We introduce temporary buildings, structures,and subtle
changes into the public sphereas examples
of empowerment and the temporarypopular
appropriation of urban space by meansof “unofficial”
strategies, against a backdrop ofthe
commercialization and privatization of publicspace,
transport planning favoring the automobile,and
ubiquitous surveillance.The sparing
use of resources is a central concernof our work
We use building refuse, reject and surplusmaterial
from industrial production, as well asdonated
goods that consumer society rejects. Wehoard and
sort these for subsequent sustainablereuse.
Beyond creating art and design objects andarchitecture,
we initiate action. Our work is almostalways
site-specific and evolves from forging localresearch and
locally sourced material into spatial,object-like
architectural constructions that arecharacterized
by their apparently imperfect finish. Many of our
constructions are executed in a collectiveDIY effort
with support from local helpers, asanyone is
capable of tinkering about with his orher hands.
Simply finding and assembling materialrelies on
collective input and support. Therefore, allof our efforts
are imbued with a participatory spiritand
open-minded inspiration.
Aesthet ics of Resistance:Reality versus Fiction
Our projects
seek to challenge conventional andtendentiously
backward-looking approaches inplanning and
building, conditioned by social segregation, and formally
executed in an architecturallanguage
that idealizes historical precedence.Using a
build-your-own approach to set up constructionsand
buildings made from found surplusand reject
materials, we are positing alternativesin experimental,
open, and communicative urbanplanning
strategies that transcend familiar Eurocentristand
historical concepts.We do not
conceive the urban environmentas an ideal
whose implementation should be thereserveof a select
few. Instead, it must be a processof
regeneration and decay in which everyoneis involved.
The majority
of people’s lives in western societiesrevolve
around the obligation to consume. Peopleexist in a
quasi self-imposed slavery to consumerism,which
affects not just their personal lives,but leads to
the exploitation of resources, environmentaldegradation,
and poverty elsewhere. This isreflected in
urban planning and architecture thatoriginates
in elitist, hierarchical networks wherepower and
money tend to accrue. Hardly ever is aneffort made
to involve the public – who are futureusers of
urban space and buildings after all – inplanning
decisions and the completion of architecture.
Without their active resistance, they are reducedto mere and
easy-to-manipulate consumersof housing
and retail space, and transport favoringthe private
automobile.These are
the conditions that our work challenges and
subverts, using whatever is availableunder the
respective circumstances. We work onderelict
sites, gap spaces, in the street, and in thefew
remaining public spaces with unrestricted access– and in the
arts context. Setting up impromptustructures
and built environments on a lower levelrather than
impassively submitting to a – mostlyvirtual –
official world of conventional planningprovides a
much more effective opportunity to testthe
immediate impact of built space.
Reflecting
and concentrating is inherent to the“Hold It!”
approach of low-level, precisely targetedurban
interventions that are positively transparentand
accessible. Applied to official planning proceduresit would
emanate from spreading grass rootsinitiatives
into a democratic mass culture thatwould
succeed on the basis of people’s readinessto
communicate, to shoulder responsibility, and toengage in a
continuous informal debate on aesthetics.All of the
above is easily learned. It needs spacewith which
to experiment, cheap material resources,and
volunteers. The built environment shouldbe everyone’s
concern. Architects and artists couldhelp to convey
how to do things yourself, how toexperiment,
and how to harness creative potential.This could
be just the trigger.
Folke Köbberling & Martin Kaltwasser Berlin 2009
(published as introduction in the book "hold it" Jovis 2009)
