Sine cūrā:
A Future In What We Already Have
The DAI-SAI Sine cūrā: A Future In What We Already Have programme continues the exploration of critical architectural heritage and transformation of material and immaterial environments from “spaces of common disease” into places of “common healing”.
At a time when the traditional understanding of care for architectural icons is becoming a universal and ever-expanding professional question, we ask ourselves: how can we build strategies of care? As not everything worth preserving can be preserved as an icon, how can we expand the concepts and pursuits of care that are meaningful and sustainable to both the local and the global communities? How may such buildings become something more for their communities, or for people who care about them?
The programme started under the title From Care to Cure and Back, focusing on The Children’s Maritime Health Resort of Military Insured Persons in Krvavica, a modernist masterpiece built by the enigmatic Croatian architect Rikard Marasović, and communities around it, through investigation in film medium. While the complex sparks nostalgia and even international architectural interest (it was included in MoMA’s 2018 exhibition Toward a Concrete Utopia Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980), its contemporary and local realities are tied to multiple layers of current uses, legalities, ownership questions and societal tendencies that reach far beyond purely architectural appreciation. This year, within the LINA programme, the cinematic production of architectural knowledge will be joined with experimental practices of in-situ installations, peripatetic storytelling and community gathering, with the emphasis on reinventing collectivity, performativity and materiality, under the title Architecture of Cure.
Sine cūrā: A Future In What We Already Have programme in 2025 is conceived to curate and exhibit a postdisciplinary interest in critical architectural heritage, which has turned into a multifaceted front of projects in the case of The Children’s Maritime Health Resort in Krvavica. Moreover, we seek to combine learnings and collect examples of the plurality related to acts of care in a discursive exhibition and its publication, where curiosity is sparked by contemporary communities and their imaginaries, together with a future in what we already have.
PROGRAMME:
28 NOV 2024
THURSDAY
DAI-SAI Gallery, Smareglina 1, Pula18:00 - 18:30
NEW LOCAL: Examples from Finland
Lecture presentation by Mika Savela (TAIKE, Helsinki)18:45 - 20:00
Community Architecture Here and Now: Pula, Višnjan, Rijeka, Krvavica
Presentation and Discussion, moderated by Ana Dana Beroš, with:Breda Bizjak (DAI-SAI)
Jasmina Bašić (DAI-SAI)
Marin Nižić, Tanja Blašković, Mara Prpić (Urbani Separe)
Mauro Sirotnjak (Pravo na grad)
Jasmina Bašić (DAI-SAI)
Marin Nižić, Tanja Blašković, Mara Prpić (Urbani Separe)
Mauro Sirotnjak (Pravo na grad)
20:00
Sine cūrā: A Future In What We Already Have
Documentation installation opening featuring works by Rebeka Bratož Gornik, Joaquin Mora, Matija Kralj Štefanić, Esteban Salcedo, Pavle Mijuca, Tina Divić et al.29 NOV 2024
FRIDAY
DAI-SAI Gallery, Smareglina 1, Pula10:00 – 13:00
Acts From Sites of Care
Editorial Workshop, facilitator: Mika Savela (TAIKE, Helsinki)18:00 – 20:00
Sine cūrā: A Future In What We Already Have
Public Talks with LINA Fellows, respondent: Ana Jeinić (IZK TU, Graz)Liisa RyynänenHow to Dismantle the Master's House Using the Master's Tools?
The evaluation criteria typically assess a building’s value based on authenticity, preservation, and cultural-historical value. Rooted in the ideals of nationalism and the conservation of monuments, this framework is more suited to protecting unique historical buildings than modern, mass-produced ones. The lecture will explore how traditional architectural research tools can be reimagined to create something new—after all, any tool can be a weapon if held differently.
The evaluation criteria typically assess a building’s value based on authenticity, preservation, and cultural-historical value. Rooted in the ideals of nationalism and the conservation of monuments, this framework is more suited to protecting unique historical buildings than modern, mass-produced ones. The lecture will explore how traditional architectural research tools can be reimagined to create something new—after all, any tool can be a weapon if held differently.
girlscanscan collective
Tripping on Modernist Monuments: A Panorama of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Germany, and Hungary
This research project investigates local initiatives in the former Eastern Bloc, aiming to understand their approaches to preserving and promoting modern architectural heritage while examining the social impacts of late modernity on our communities.
Tripping on Modernist Monuments: A Panorama of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Germany, and Hungary
This research project investigates local initiatives in the former Eastern Bloc, aiming to understand their approaches to preserving and promoting modern architectural heritage while examining the social impacts of late modernity on our communities.
Loris L. Perillo and Andrea Arcese
From Space to Environment: Elementary Notes on Housing and Displaying
This discussion will analyze the spatial qualities of modern housing and interpret exhibition design as a contemporary architectural tool, exploring alternative methodologies for transforming residential spaces through processes of exhibiting.
From Space to Environment: Elementary Notes on Housing and Displaying
This discussion will analyze the spatial qualities of modern housing and interpret exhibition design as a contemporary architectural tool, exploring alternative methodologies for transforming residential spaces through processes of exhibiting.
Rajna Avramova
Uncanny Spatialities and Minor Architectures
This lecture will delve into the relationship between minor and major spaces, examining how they reflect and influence power dynamics. It will introduce the concept of minor architectures as a framework and methodology for mapping alternatives to major spatial theories.
Uncanny Spatialities and Minor Architectures
This lecture will delve into the relationship between minor and major spaces, examining how they reflect and influence power dynamics. It will introduce the concept of minor architectures as a framework and methodology for mapping alternatives to major spatial theories.
20:00
Periple Duet II
Publication Presentation by Ana Dana Beroš, DAI-SAI in collaboration with Trienal de arquitectura de Lisboa, featuringworks by Johanna Musch and wit(t)nessing collective (Giga Tsikarishvili and Tatuli Japoshvili)30 NOV 2024
SATURDAY
10:00 – 12:00
Riječka šetnja Pulom
Peripatetic programme connecting two port cities, Rijeka and Pula, curated by Urbani Separe. Starting Point of the Walk: Titov Park, Ul. Svetog Ivana 1, PulaLINA FELLOWS:
How to Dismantle the Master's House Using the Master's Tools?
Liisa RyynänenOur architectural culture is permeated by the idea of the architect as the main designer of a space. For example, in building conservation, the value of architecture is defined in particular by the value criteria of originality and preservation. The third key criterion is the cultural and historical stratification of the building, understood first and foremost as extensions designed by architects. On the other hand, changes made by the users of the building, often at low cost and without planning permission or a proper design office, are treated with caution. At worst, they are seen as damaging the cultural and historical value of the building and making it more vulnerable to demolition orders.
This criterion - the most institutionally and legally established tool in the history of architecture - has its roots in the conservation of monuments designed by important architects and is closely linked to the rise of nationalism at the end of the 19th century. While conservation criteria have naturally evolved over time, this original nationalist arthistorical framework continues to guide our preservation decisions and, more broadly, our cultural understanding of architecture.
Particularly as the wave of modern demolition intensifies, many have called for these value criteria to be abandoned. In addition to the emergence of new ecological criteria, this rejection is also driven by a deeper social critique of the history of architecture: since the established criteria and research tools are built on nationalist ideals and a certain patriarchal art historical reason, we cannot go against these forces through the tools they have developed. The argument is a kind of characterization of Audre Lorde's famous phrase, "the master's tool will never dismantle the master's house".
In my own work, I seek to explore whether the tools that have become established and have fundamentally shaped our broader architectural thinking might nevertheless be approached in a different way through a certain critical misuse. What if, rather than rejecting the criteria, we sought through them to uncover the broader structures of power and thinking that they produce, and to use them as a tool for creating new, more radically diverse ways of thinking about architecture? Like Ani DiFranco would put it, "any tool can be a weapon if held differently".
I applied such an attitude to the traditional field research I learned in my architectural training and to the Inventory called installation commissioned for the FIX: Care and Repair exhibition by The Museum of Finnish Architecture and Design. During the project, I visited modern demolition hazard buildings and looked in particular at the changes made to them by the users later on. Rather than defining the alterations as layers that diminish the value of the original architecture, as in traditional architectural history research and inventory, I collected these very materials and building components and used them as the material for a monumental installation I built for the Museum of Architecture and Design.
The purpose of the project was not to directly propose new conservation criteria, but to exploit, hack and reinterpret existing criteria - in particular the idea of cultural-historical stratification. The aim was to deconstruct the existing set of criteria and the broader cultural perspectives they generate from their own starting points, while seeking a more fundamental new cultural perspective, one that approaches architecture as a form of co-production linked to time and use, rather than as a stable work of art.
Credits: Paavo Lehtonen 2024
Tripping on Modernist Monuments:
A Panorama of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Germany, and Hungary
girlscanscan collectiveThe ongoing research project Tripping on Modernist Monuments was initiated in 2020. The main question is whether a toolbox of best practices exists in the former Eastern bloc to rescue modern heritage and whether this can be adapted to different countries.
The systematic demolitions in Budapest have raised many questions for us: If this is a pan-European phenomenon, is there a connection between the causes in the different countries? Could other post-socialist countries come to terms with their historical and built heritage? Can these similarities in the past allow for successful approaches to be adapted? And if not, can a comprehensive toolbox be developed to provide a starting point for local movements?
In Hungary, the general state of monument preservation, research and accessibility to archives, especially the state-owned architectural firms’ that operated under socialism, is concerning. However, non-governmental organisations and initiatives use inventive methods to protect and advocate for the modern architectural heritage.
Breaking with the academic tradition of looking West, we searched for good examples in the East, in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chișinău and Bucharest. During our trip, we met with local initiatives and learned about their visions, successes and experiences in preserving, accepting and promoting architectural heritage. In comparison, the late-modern heritage of former East Germany (a.k.a. Ostmoderne) was thematised much earlier than in the other countries studied.
The Eastern Bloc, in the early 1990s, not only had to face its controversial communist past but also the effects of the free market. As a consequence, in today’s reality, demolitions taking place in neoliberal urban settings due to ideological or economic reasons are protested, while monuments in rural areas are left to decay, awaiting activation. While the canonization of late 20th century monuments is primarily driven by academic discourse, the everyday realities, mainly issues regarding housing, make this an inherently societal matter.
From Space to Environment:
Elementary Notes on Housing and Displaying
Loris L. Perillo and Andrea ArceseHousing in the last century was a field of architectural experimentation and it was the main driving tool for the city development in Italy. The period from the post-war reconstruction years through the 1970s brought a substantial increase in residential building stock, leaving behind a true built heritage. The city of Rome stands as a clear case study for this topic. More than doubling in size between the post-war period and the 1960s, Rome is estimated to have expanded its population by accommodating up to 1,755,000 migrants from across Italy. For housing, this was an unprecedented period: approximately 40% of the housing constructed to date was built during these years (1).
These housing projects emerged during a phase of urban expansion, primarily built in peripheral areas designed to accommodate migration flows (2). Today, many of these buildings are in states of deterioration or have become partially obsolete, and they often suffer from a lack of services.
A comparative analysis of several case studies reveals some common qualities in the social housing produced during this period. Examples include Adalberto Libera’s Unità Abitativa Orizzontale, completed in 1954; the Tuscolano III complex, designed by architects De Renzi and Muratori between 1950 and 1960; and the Olympic Village in Rome designed by various architects for the 1960 Olympic Games (3, 4, 5).
In each of these large projects, which were intended to house hundreds of families, there is an evident abundance of collective spaces, particularly on the ground floor. However, these areas today are largely deteriorated.
Uncanny Spatialities and Minor Architectures
Rajna AvramovaThis lecture begins with an exploration of my interest in the politics of space and how space is utilized for both major and minor causes. The thesis can be framed as follows: if modernity manifested itself in segmented spaces characterized by confinement, then the production of space today should align with the affective landscape of contemporary society. Immaterial labour, emotions, affects, and bodies permeate every layer of everyday life, revealing themselves as forces that are both exploitative and productive. The lecture examines the productive and immanent nature of these forces and their potential to reveal spatial arrangements that offer new insights into architecture.
These observations fall under the concept of minor architectures, which emphasizes the subtle and latent spatial potentials and their capacity to conflict with and transform spatial dynamics. A methodology involving imaginative and speculative tools will be presented as an alternative way of visualizing these spaces. Through a speculative exercise, the lecture will explore literary fiction as a medium for revealing their an-architectural and partial nature, highlighting their unfamiliar and uncanny qualities for the architectural observer.
Rather than focusing on literary analysis, this approach centres on the ontology of the site, viewing each site as an assemblage of minor, situated practices that remain in a state of continuous construction. The lecture will conclude with demonstrative examples of this analytical approach.
In sum, this lecture will offer a framework for understanding minor architectures as sites of resistance and transformation, challenging and dissolving conventional spatial knowledge.
Through ontological analysis, it will explore the arrangements between visible and invisible forces within space, opening architecture to new interpretations as an adaptable and openended field.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons