NAI Testify!
The Consequences of Architecture
2011
Rotterdam, NL
Commissioned by Lukas Feireiss
- Design by nOffice (Miessen Pflugfelder Nilsson)
In the past few years, our relationships with and attitudes towards food, health, energy, space, time, social relationships and (economic) value have spiralled out of control. Now, faced with the consequences of our over-consumption, we are desperately in search of ways to redress the balance. Is architecture able to play a part in restoring harmony? Can architecture help us to build a more sustainable society?
A commission by curator Lukas Feireiss to design the exhibition architecture and spatial framework for ‘Testify!’ at the NAI in Rotterdam and DAZ, Berlin. A travelling exhibition, it is conceived as a coherent kit-of-parts, which can easily respond to numerous spatial typologies whilst retaining a strong individual and site-specific identity.
Testify! presents 25 international projects by different architects, all concerned with addressing these issues. Residents, users and people living near the projects get a chance to have their say, and to comment on why they think the architect’s vision is a success – or not. The projects range from actual buildings to experimental and inter-disciplinary think-tanks and research groups. A sense of urgency and a need to tackle real issues are not the only forces behind the exhibition; energy, optimism and a passion to come up with ideas that can truly make a difference are also what drives the projects of these international designers.
Projects on display:
Open Air Library, Karo* with Architektur+Netzwerk /Project Row Houses, Rick Lowe / Eichbaumoper, raumlaborberlin/ Cinema Jenin, Cinema Jenin e.V/ Parque Explora, Alejandro Echeverri Arquitectos/ Lisboa7, AT103, FranciscoPardo and Julio Amezcua/ Energy Neutral Monument, Zecc Architekten/ Bogotá Change, Antanas Mockus and Enrique Penalosa/ Estonoesunsolar, Grávalos di Monte Arquitectos/ Le56 Eco-Interstice, Atelier d'Architecture Autogérée (AAA)/ Favela Painting, Haas&Hahn/Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn/ Skateistan, Skateistan/ACCL, ANOC, Oliver Perchovich/ Bridge School, Li Xiaodong Atelier/ Maria Grazia Cutuli Primary School, 2A+P, IAN+, and MA0/Emmeazero with Mario Cutuli/ SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, Studio Gang Architects/ Inkwenkwezi Secondary School, Noero Wolff Architects with Sonja Spamer Architects/ Old Market Library, TYIN Tegnestue with Kasama Yamtree/ Ahmed Baba Centre, dhk Architects with Twothink/ Inujima Art Project, Seirensho Hiroshi Sambuichi Architects/ NAI Matchmaking, The Netherlands Architecture Institute/ The Winter School Middle East, Markus Miessen and Zahra Ali Baba/ Copenhagen Wheel/CO2GO, Senseable City Laboratory/ Metropolitan Protogarden, Ecologicstudio/Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto/ Drivers of Change, Arup Foresight/ Decolonizing Art: Architecture Residency, Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti, Eyal Weizman