A.I.R extension#07

Katleen Vermeir & Ronny Heiremans did a lecture-performance at Recyclart in Brussels in collaboration with Vincent Meessen (artist) and Peter Swinnen (architect).

Excerpt from the correspondence with Peter Swinnen and Vincent Meessen in preparation for the lecture.

Hi Vincent & Peter,

Some key thoughts on this extension: We are not particularly interested in giving a lecture on our A.I.R project. The only approach for us would be to actually perform an extension of the project. Instead of working with visuals and preparatory models relating to the space we live and work in, we would suggest a representation of our domestic space through a live telephone conversation in which one of the parties would find him/herself in the space, while the other party would mediate the conversation to an audience. The conversation may be used as a kind of reenactment of the moving subject’s experience, “showing” how different parts of the building are encountered, how they emerge and present themselves to the mobile subject. We are thinking of Le Corbusier’s “promenade architecturale”. So, we’re not at home: we are sitting in the audience at Recyclart! Walking from space to space, from the staircase all the way up to the roof,the 'visitor' to our house can give descriptions and comments that can offer the public a view not only on the space but also on the way this visitor perceives it. Imagining a list of people – architect, real estate agent, feng shui expert, artist, each with a specific look, a specific approach towards the built space, opens up the idea of representation. It includes the imagination of the public, but also of the person describing it as well as of the person who designed and build it, each in his/her own role.

Ronny & Katleen

Some ideas from a the correspondence with Vincent Meessen in preparation for the lecture.

LES EXTENSIONS COMME USAGE DE LA PROPRIETE :

la traduction d'une publicité de la vie privée.

Quitter l'architecture pour penser l'aspect public de l'habitat privé c'est aussi penser sa forme juridique. Toujours en chantier, ce volet du projet en est à mon sens l'un des développements les plus significatifs. Il s'agit en d'autres mot d'organiser une façon d'ouvrir la propriété privée au public sous un régime experimental et donc aussi d'étendre les limites du projet. De prendre en compte les facteurs à même de rendre de la mobilité aux règles qui fixent l'ordre de la propriété. Comment déjouer les règles et prescriptions notariales, bancaires et administratives qui façonnent l'habitabilité, c'est-à-dire la possibilité d'habiter un espace. Vous en conviendrez, cela dépasse de loin la configuration et la gestion d'un espace donné. C'est peut-être l'un des principaux mérites de ce projet - ce qui reste en chantier - cette prise en compte de tous les facteurs qui rendent l'habitat possible, sa publicité, son économie, sa forme juridique,...ce sont autant de chantiers parallèles qui appellent des extensions.

Vincent

2007
a research project of Katleen Vermeir and Ronny Heiremans
in collaboration with Vincent Meessen & Peter Swinnen (51N4E)
for RE-PRESENTATION, lecture series curated by Pierre Huyghebaert, Alexia de Visscher and Dag Boutsen, organisation I.B.A.I. / Recyclart, Brussels (BE)