BETWEEN EXHAUSTION AND CURE


Exploring the causes of exhaustion and the pathways of healing, Giga Tsikarishvili and Tatuli Japoshvili interweave subjective experiences into broader social, mental, and environmental ecologies. Journeying within and beyond the borderlines from Tbilisi to Lisbon, with a pause in Krvavica, the duo reflects on the interplays between human-made articulations and surrounding natural landscapes. Experiences, affects, and imaginaries are conveyed through the lens of speculative storytelling.

Tatuli Japoshvili is a writer in cultural criticism, a visual culture researcher, and an artist. Her research delves into the intersections between aesthetics, psychoanalysis, and the notion of the feminine, exploring these themes alongside a complex behaviour of images both in contemporary digital media and material archives.

Giga Tsikarishvili is a multidisciplinary practitioner with a focus on artistic research. 
His work delves into the intricate connection between various subjects, both human and non-human, that encourages active engagement in establishing vivid relationships with nature-culture entities in dire need of care and respect. 

wit[h]nessing
In 2023, they co-founded wit[h]nessing, a platform for transdisciplinary artistic research that aims to incorporate perspectives concerned with expanding the concepts of subjectivity, aesthetics and ethics at intersections between art, architecture and design.

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ON TIME

 
is a research journey across Europe, investigating the power of time on the regeneration and maintenance of “climate of care”, spanning from Paris to Lisbon and Krvavica on the Adriatic Sea. Along this voyage, audio-recorded interviews are conducted to gather accounts from diverse individuals embodying the role of “witnesses of care,” such as slow travelers, gardeners, and heritage curators. Invited by Johanna Musch, these individuals actively engage with the “desk of time,” a conceptual legal entity committed to forward-thinking urban (planning) practices.

Johanna Musch is a social designer, researcher, digital and cultural project practitioner based in Aubervilliers (France). She is the co-founder of the collective Umarell where she advocates for spatial justice through actions directed to bring out vernacular knowledge and help users recognize their own power of invention and intervention towards regenerative practices. In her work, she likes to hybridize architecture with other fields including: journalistic investigation, audio-recording, artistic intervention, writing and speculative design.

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CONTINUOUS LEISURE

 
consists of a continuous line of simply fabricated tents with fabric and supports, which serve as temporary accommodation and around which are occurring "islands" of leisure activities, such as a mini golf, a tennis court or a small beach. This installation is deployed crossing diagonally the inner courtyard of the Children's Health Resort in Krvavica, near Makarska, Croatia as part of the Architecture of Cure festival program.

The configuration of Continuous Leisure takes up the idea of Tempo Libero, introduced by Vittorio Gregotti and Umberto Eco, as curators of the 1964 Triennale di Milano, offering a critical view of the dominant expansive model of coastal tourism.  The arrangement of the tents along a continuous line that diagonally crosses the courtyard manifests a vocation of temporal autonomy and resistance to the predominant chronological regime, establishing an environment where the experience of leisure is not subject to temporal restrictions, but offers a place of disconnection and introspection. 

This concept of liberation from time aligns with the radical cynical vision of the radical Italian office, Superstudio, and its Continuous Monument, to challenge established architectural and social structures to reflect on the authoritarian and homogenizing tendencies of modern architecture embodied by the Health Resort and to promote a new critical view of the relationship between architecture, society and the environment.

The diversity of recreational activities scattered throughout the tents offers a wide range of leisure experiences that invite visitors to unwind and enjoy leisure time in a unique and personalized way. A symbol of resistance and liberation from the pressures of efficiency and productivity, empowering the courtyard, a traditional place for rest, as a space for reflection, contemplation and connection with self and others.

The ease of construction and flexibility of the design make this facility highly adaptable to different environments and needs. In addition, the open and fluid layout of the tents and leisure areas allows for the creation of a variety of situations that can be captured and explored through audiovisual media, adding an additional layer of depth and meaning to the pavilion experience.

Continuous leisure is approached as a utopian proposal in the face of indiscriminate architectural planning and leisure, challenging established conventions and seeking to create a space that transcends traditional temporal and spatial limitations.

Esteban Salcedo is a PhD Architect from Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM). His academic production relies on the confluence between research and teaching. As a lecturer, he has taught at ETSAM, at the Architectural Association of London, and the University of Miami, and he’s currently lecturer at Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile. For the last ten years holded the head office position at estudioHerreros, an architectural firm with extensive experience in the design and construction of cultural buildings and exhibition displays. In 2023 he has founded his own firm, SALA, where he promotes, through spatial practice, the cultural relevance of architecture in relation with contemporary issues.