MOTA - Museum of Transitory Art

18/01/2021

Check out the new article by Kelvin Andrian Winarta on nonument.org website: shorturl.at/uzPX7

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #westiranianliberationmovement #kelvinandrianwinarta

Check out the new article by Kelvin Andrian Winarta on nonument.org website: https://bit.ly/2XOc0ZX

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #westiranianliberationmovement #kelvinandrianwinarta

11/01/2021

In the new essay “Telefunkenwerk Zehlendorf” Luminita Ratiu researches the history and developments of the building at the outskirts of Berlin, which was from 1938 slowly transforming from the former industrial site to a work-concentration camp, US military barracks and finally to a contemporary residential area.

Read more on the Nonument page: shorturl.at/yKOW3

In the new essay “Telefunkenwerk Zehlendorf” Luminita Ratiu researches the history and developments of the building at the outskirts of Berlin, which was from 1938 slowly transforming from the former industrial site to a work-concentration camp, US military barracks and finally to a contemporary residential area.

Read more on the Nonument page: https://bit.ly/3iq7dHw

07/01/2021

Telefunkenwerk Zehlendorf – Nonument

In the new essay “Telefunkenwerk Zehlendorf” Luminita Ratiu researches the history and developments of the building at the outskirts of Berlin, which was from 1938 slowly transforming from the former industrial site to a work-concentration camp, US military barracks and finally to a contemporary residential area.

https://nonument.org/theory/telefunkenwerk-zehlendorf/

Telefunkenwerk Zehlendorf From a former industrial site to a work-concentration camp, US military barracks and finally to a contemporary residential area Luminita Ratiu When I moved into Berlin, a new city and a new country for me, nobody told me how hard it would be to find an apartment to rent. I....

05/01/2021

Simone Segouin, mostly known by her codename, Nicole Minet, was only 18-years-old when the Germans invaded. Her first act of rebellion was to steal a bicycle from a German military administration, and to slice the tires of all of the other bikes and motorcycles so they couldn't pursue her. She found a pocket of the Resistance and joined the fight, using the stolen bike to deliver messages between Resistance groups.

She was an extremely fast learner and quickly became an expert at tactics and explosives. She led teams of Resistance fighters to capture German troops, set traps, and sabotage German equipment. As the war dragged on, her deeds escalated to derailing German trains, blocking roads, blowing up bridges and helping to create a German-free path to help the Allied forces retake France from the inside. She was never caught.

Segouin was present at the liberation of Chartres on August 23, 1944, and then the liberation of Paris two days later. She was promoted to lieutenant and awarded several medals, including the Croix de Guerre. After the war, she studied medicine and became a pediatric nurse. She is still going strong, and this October (2021) she will turn 96. ❤️

03/01/2021

Meet Nigerian kids drawing the attention of HOLLYWOOD with high tech sci-fi films they create with mobile phones

Meet Nigerian kids drawing the attention of HOLLYWOOD with high tech sci-fi films they create with mobile phones

A group of 10 Nigerian kids who call themselves “The Critics” are taking the world by storm by creating short films with unimaginable effects using just mobile phones. According to people who are into movie making, the quality of visual effects displayed in the movies produced by these kids dema...

30/12/2020

The colonial history of the Netherlands is today well known, but the question of appropriately dealing with one's history is yet to be answered. There are different ways in which institutions and cities reflect on their problematic historical background, but they too often resort to only removing the colonial blind spots, trying to disassociate the name of the institution with its problematic history. Memorials are taken down from their pedestals, institutions and streets renamed. The monument, originally dedicated to Governor-General Van Heutsz, who caused many atrocities in times of Dutch colonialism, was in 2004 re-signified to remind us of the ‘good’ relationship between The Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies until the 1940s. The monument, now called ‘Dutch East Indies-Netherlands monument’ disables the possibility of any association with a colonial history and the dark figure of Van Heutsz.

📕 What is truly left behind when we remove the controversial blind spots? How can the public share the sense of guilt when the monument tries to hide his disrepute? Is there a place between honour and dishonour and if so, can we reframe the monument for emancipatory reasons? If you want to learn more the problematics of dealing with controversial monuments, order the newly published book here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

Text based on the article “Monument of Shame” by Hans van Houwelingen.
📷 Archive of Hans van Houwelingen

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #nonumentgroup #colonial #colonialism #vanheutsz #netherlands

27/12/2020

Berengaria Hotel is believed to be inspired by the shape of a flying eagle. It was designed in the times of colonial British rule, when Cyprus’ architecture and traditional aesthetics were deliberately changed in order to assert British rule and this can be clearly seen in its shape, materials and decorative addons. Everything that was related to power and success - including Berengaria Hotel - had to follow the semiology and aesthetics of the British colonial style. Berengaria Hotel was in his glory days the luxurious holiday stay, however, after the Cypriot liberation struggle in the 50s and soon after the illegal Turkish invasion, which resulted in the loss of 80% of the island’s economic resources and high levels of unemployment, Berengaria Hotel had to close its doors. Over the years of decay, it has become a fetishied, metaphysical, legend generating machine, attracting ghost hunters and tourists, looking for a free video type experience, a place to stir their fears or challenge their creative skills in graffiti.

📕 If you want to learn more about Berengaria Hotel and the storytelling, legendmaking mechanism it has triggered in people around the world, order our newly published Nonument! book here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

(Text based on the article “Berengaria Hotel as a legend generating machine” by Achilleas Kentonis)

📷 Achilleas Kentonis

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #cyprus #collonial #berengariahotel #berengaria #nonumentgroup

24/12/2020

In its worst forms, the brutalist boom of the 2010s is an ideological and stylistic parody of the original brutalism and of the social ethics originally associated with public sector brutalism. The way in which brutalism became more and more visible and consumable is shown through products and merchandise, such as brutalist chocolate masterclasses and tote bags with the word ‘brutal’ written on them. They de-radicalise and trivialise brutalist forms in a way that is culturally regressive. Some of the form’s new fans may bolster their own cultural capital, hipsterly differentiating from mass taste and the fluffy brutalist products may help increase the visibility of the form and make it less alienating, but one has to asks whether this new found popularity helps or hinders its preservations and the serious discussion of brutalism.

Brutalist architecture was Modernism’s angry underside, and was never a mere aesthetic style. It was a political aesthetic, dedicated to the percept that nothing was too good for ordinary people. Now, after decades of neglect, it’s divided between ‘eyesores’ and ‘icons’; fine for the Barbican’s stockbrokers but unacceptable for the ordinary people who were always its intended clients. When going against the right-wing opinion about the brutalism as something “foreign” and “intellectual/elitist” and against the notion of a total marketisation of ideas of change and progress, the question arises if viral, ‘sexy’ brutalist aesthetics, erased of its social emancipation but very present on social media, can put out a fight for its holistic preservation.

📕 If you want to learn more about the complex situation in which brutalist architecture in the last years got its popularity, order our newly published book Nonument! here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

(Text based on the article “Brutal? Fluffy Brutalism in the Age of Digital Neofeudalism” by Alexei Monroe)

📷 Alexei Monroe

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #brutalism #brutalistaesthetics #alexeimonroe #brutalist #brutalistarchitecture #nonumentgroup

23/12/2020

Slovene architect Saša J. Mächtig designed the well known kiosk K67 in 1966 and it soon gained its monumentality, not because of its dimensions but rather due to the production volumes and the geographical scope that it covered. It became widely used across Yugoslavia, Eastern and Central Europe and beyond; in single, double or triple varieties, as a newspaper kiosk, fast food stall, parking-attendant booth, photocopy-shop, market, vegetable or coffee stand.

Shortly after its creation, K67 got its status as a design icon and was bought by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the same time as it has earned its design icon and was fetishized and gentrified through countless installations and exhibitions, the K67 also got its “lower” function. It became an indicator of speculative ruins-in-the-making, popping up in decaying urban settings and wherever the idealized private initiative came to a standstill. K67 turned out to be pragmatic enough to overcome even its constituent limitations and the economic context it was designed for. It is at least a little bit ironic that this ultimatum flexible self-reinventing unit was designed, developed and produced within the context of a socialistic country. It seems like there will always be functions small enough and clients pragmatic enough for K67, whatever the economic and social environment.

📕 If you want to learn more about K67, its position as a modernist infrastructure in a socialistic context and as well today, as a mirror to contemporary architecture, order our newly published book Nonument! here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

📷: photos courtesy of the Archive of Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana, MAO

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #k67 #kioskdesign #kiosk #yugoslavia #sasajmächtig #nonumentgroup

23/12/2020

Slovene architect Saša J. Mächtig designed the well known kiosk K67 in 1966 and it soon gained its monumentality, not because of its dimensions but rather due to the production volumes and the geographical scope that it covered. It became widely used across Yugoslavia, Eastern and Central Europe and beyond; in single, double or triple varieties, as a newspaper kiosk, fast food stall, parking-attendant booth, photocopy-shop, market, vegetable or coffee stand.

Shortly after its creation, K67 got its status as a design icon and was bought by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the same time as it has earned its design icon and was fetishized and gentrified through countless installations and exhibitions, the K67 also got its “lower” function. It became an indicator of speculative ruins-in-the-making, popping up in decaying urban settings and wherever the idealized private initiative came to a standstill. K67 turned out to be pragmatic enough to overcome even its constituent limitations and the economic context it was designed for. It is at least a little bit ironic that this ultimatum flexible self-reinventing unit was designed, developed and produced within the context of a socialistic country. It seems like there will always be functions small enough and clients pragmatic enough for K67, whatever the economic and social environment.

📕 If you want to learn more about K67, its position as a modernist infrastructure in a socialistic context and as well today, as a mirror to contemporary architecture, order our newly published book Nonument! here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

📷: photos courtesy of the Archive of Museum of Architecture and Design MAO, Ljubljana

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #k67 #kioskdesign #kiosk #yugoslavia #sasajmächtig #nonumentgroup

22/12/2020

The West Gate building in Belgrade hasn't always had the symbolic status it has today. After its construction in 1980, the building was with the combination of public housing in one tower and offices for import-export company Genex in the other, a perfect reflection of the ideological stance of the country and its particular approach to socialism. Thus, it came to symbolise the country's successful and morally superior development. It was definitely one of the many ‘victories of socialism”, but was still far from becoming the symbol of the city. During the troublesome 1990’, the building was seen more as a painful reminder of the past times and at best something out of the ordinary. It has found its way back to the brochures and lists of exceptional landmarks with the return of foreign tourists and their interest in modern architecture in socialist Yugoslavia, especially the country's grand but ruinous monuments, that looked so “exotic”. Though it has secured its place as an architectural landmark of the city, the state of the West Gate building is close to decay.

📕 Where lies the disconnect between the idealised structure beloved by so many and the grim realities of its daily existence? Is this decay connected to the general situation in Serbian society, its relation to architectural heritage, or is this an unfortunate case where a building has fallen prey to a set of circumstances? Learn more in our newly published book Nonument! and order it here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

📷: Ognjen Dulović

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #belgrade #beograd #yugoslavia #westgate #genex #nonumentgroup

22/12/2020

🌛Follow the moon in 2021 with the new limited edition of the Moonolith lunar calendar made by @baraga_studio !🌜

For 2021 you can choose between 2 versions: bright and dark one. The bright calendar is printed on the Notweed paper made from invasive plants in collaboration with Trajna @trajnacollective !

✨They both glow in the dark!

To get yours - order here:
https://tinyurl.com/y4ycy2pb

#moonolith #calendar #lunarcalendar #moon #motamuseum

21/12/2020

In 1947, a new border was drawn between Italy and Yugoslavia, consequently splitting the town of Gorica/Gorizia into the Italian old urban centre and Yugoslavian surrounding periphery. In order to substitute for the lost town, a brand new town of Nova Gorica (New Gorica) was conceived; a town as a “socialistic beacon shining across the border to the capitalist West”. Half a kilometre from the state borders began to grow as modernist settlements, following the plan of the Slovene architect Edvard Ravnikar. The town had two main roads, Erjavčeva Road was a diagonal link with the old town across the border, where the Magistrala (soon named Kidričeva Road) was setting out the idea of the new socialist future. Kidričeva Road was a wide tree-lined avenue, starting and ending in nothing, waiting for the main public buildings to be built along it.

After Yougoslavia started developing its own non-aligned policy between the two Cold-War blocks, the border with the West became more and more permeable and ideological impetus for building such statements began to wane. Nova Gorica ceased to be a project of national importance and became a permanent victim of its own too ambitious beginnings. Kidričeva Road is symbolically as well as infrastructurally isolated within its never fully realised founding aspirations, which the town built around couldn’t and still cannot either ignore or fulfil.

📕 So if the infrastructure of the 20th century strove to exhibit, if not always to enable (like in this case), rational permanence, contemporary infrastructure tries to stay out of sight and wears a mask of ephemerality. However, what is hiding behind the polished glass façade of today’s architecture and how can today already “nonumental” modernist infrastructure enable us to study the elusive nature of contemporary infrastructure? To learn more, order our newly published Nonument! Book here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwf2zk

📷 courtesy of the archive of Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana

#nonument #motamuseum #monument #publicspace #void #ruins #architecture #architecturetheory #arttheory #book #novagorica #gorizia #yugoslavia #edvardravnikar #nonumentgroup