Community and Identity: Central Topics in Ephemeral Architecture in 2022
Community and Identity: Central Topics in Ephemeral Architecture in 2022
Staged stories on community and identity, ephemeral architecture showed that in 2022 it doesn’t have to be permanent to be powerful. A direct and popped-up public installation can shift from preparation to action, reclaiming and defining what makes a community unique. Highlighting installations to acknowledge linguistic diversity in NYC, a giant table to celebrate culinary in Barcelona, and a large-scale net in Dubai to represent the local culture, among others, these initiatives seek to understand ways in which local and regional expressions can help cities to be more equal and diverse.
Globalization has connected the world boundaryless. While it has also made information more accessible, it has led to homogeneity and identity crisis at melding unique societies and cultural expressions. Cultural differences are undeniable as globalization grows. Hence, as architecture produces common living standards, it can also highlight singularities. Festivals, installations, and pavilions, 2022 was the year to express local memories to be recognized and celebrated, setting Community and identity as central topics in ephemeral architecture throughout the year.
Showcasing 2022 architectural ephemeral work, the following 12 projects were built by and for diverse communities to celebrate singularities toward a city for everyone.
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Your Voices | Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza NYC
The kinetic sculpture, ‘Your Voices,’ is formed of 700 glowing cords expressing the 700 languages currently spoken in New York City, stretched between a series of structural arcs, enveloping visitors within a revolving, illuminated network as it rotates north, south, east and west through a multilingual soundscape which interweaves languages drawn from all over the city: from Algerian Arabic, Alsation, Azeri and Ashanti to Zapotec, Zarma, and Zulu.
Al Gargoor | Dubai Design Week 2022
Sara Alrayyes
Al Gargoor is a public installation made from gargoor, meaning used fishing nets, either in their native shape or with minimal alterations. The idea of the project is to develop a useful yet creative space by upcycling materials such as fishing nets, a representative object for the local culture. This installation aims to educate the next generation about the importance of the fishing culture while preserving Bahrain and the surrounding Gulf countries’ unique identities. The project also incorporates traditional palm tree weaving (Sa’af) and naseej textiles, produced and crafted by local Bahrainis.
À Table |Serpentine Pavilion 2022
Titled “À Table,” the French expression for sitting together to eat, her proposal introduces a slender wooden structure with nine pleated petals supported by radial ribs. The design was developed by researching the typology of community meeting places, like the toguna huts of the Dogon people in Mali. Inside the pavilion, a ring of tables and benches invites visitors to enter, sit down and relax, eat or work together. According to the architect, the modest space and low-slung canopy are meant to make people feel close to the earth.
Catharsis | Burning Man 2022
Arthur Mamou-Mani and the Catharsis Crew
It welcomes all arts and performances in the spirit of radical inclusion and self-expression, acting both as an amphitheater and as a traveling museum for burners around the world. After the event, it will be reassembled in other cities. By reassembling the project elsewhere, the installation’s aim is to create a bridge between Black Rock City and the communities that cannot access it.
Dirty clothes are washed at home | MECCA x NGV Melbourne
The installation is based on the notion of clothing as a symbol of body protection and the associated labor as an act of self-care. The installation’s centerpiece is a basin-like structure inspired by the ‘Lavadero de Huichapan,’ a historic communal laundry located in Huichapan, Hildalgo, in Mexico. The construction of the ‘lavadero’ dates back to the 18th century and was built for the local community to access natural spring water. The communal structure represents a past practice of washing clothes in public spaces and the social bonds formed between communities through this act.
Fungible / Non-Fungible Pavilion | 2022 Tallinn Architecture Biennale
The pavilion proposes a decentralized approach in which the community can become both designers and investors for public art, thus changing the architect’s role from “master builder” to “a system designer.” The design of the pavilion uses blockchain technology. The designers created an NFT generative tool, and every NFT minted by this tool finds a physical replica that is integrated into the pavilion.
Home, 2022 | 2022 Biennale of FRAC in France
Laure Tixier
Through this work, Laure Tixier imagines a gesture of revolt for an invisible, impossible community: those working women who sewed and embroidered at home, scattered, isolated, and imprisoned between domestic labor and piecework distributed from house to house. In giving form to the overlooked work of women, the artist’s chosen approach is to bring them out of the home and install them in a space highly symbolic of the industrial history of the city of Vierzon, France.
Popular Theatre” in Plaza San Bartolomé | Concéntrico 2022
From the scale to the expression of this wooden scaffolding, the piece has a playful and festive character that evokes popular celebrations near and far from the culture of Logroño. The installation staged stories that resonated with local memories and what happens on the other side of the Atlantic- carnivals in Latin America- popular fairs, and pagan rituals. In this sense, the piece acquired a present theatricality, maintaining an aura of mystery despite its permeable structure that allowed the gaze to pass through.
One Canada | 8th Edition of Toronto’s Winter Stations
Alex Feenstra, Megan Haralovich, Zhengyang Hua, Noah Tran, Haley White & Connor Winrow, Led by Assistant Professor Afshin Ashari, University of Guelph, School of Environmental Design & Rural Development
The installation symbolizes bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples through gathering. Under the theme of Resilience, this edition encouraged designers to “celebrate the ability of people to withstand and push through challenging and unprecedented times.” Accomplished through the support of the seven grandfather teachings, represented by the seven rings of the installation, that originated with the Anishinaabe Peoples, passed down through generations that ensure the survival of all Indigenous Peoples: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth.
Rock | Roll | 2022 Miami Design District Commission
Rock | Roll is a multi-faceted installation that draws on the vibrancy of Miami Carnival to honor the BIPOC communities that contribute to Miami’s poly-ethnic culture. The installation is a series of massive, whimsical capsules that rock back and forth when users activate and feature vibrant colors reminiscent of Carnival’s feathered costumes and the city’s water-friendly lifestyle. Suspended overhead and animated by light and sound, a dome and a giant disco ball serve as an anchor to a communal and lively commission.
9th MPavilion | Queen Victoria Garden, Melbourne
The installation celebrates being outdoors, the lightweight, textural pavilion features a canopy comprising three layers that explore the potential of fabric and tensile architecture at every step. Designed by female-led Bangkok-Based Studio All(zone), the MPavilion will be gifted by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation to the people of Victoria and relocated to a new, permanent home where the community can engage it.
Urban Kitchen in Plaza Cataluña | Barcelona Architecture Festival 2022
The installation is an urban kitchen in the center of Plaça de Catalunya. Setting for various culinary activations where new models on the relationship between food and the city, its climate impact, and its link to social justice will be presented and discussed. During the inauguration, Cooking-Sections performed – a team formed by Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe that examines the systems that organize the world through food. Also, with the participation of Plataforma Aprofitem els Aliments and Comedores Populares of Lima.
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Year in Review presented by Randers Tegl.
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