Summer Program: Palais Thurn & Taxis Bregenz, 20.07 – 07.09.2008

In 2008 as part of the long-term study project ANTIPODIUM, the Vorarlberg Architecture Institute offers summer workshops in Bregenz for students and graduates of architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, media design, applied and fine arts, performing arts and sociology.

ON US
What happens when architects explore territories together with video artists, and when urban planners have a look at settings of architecture together with performing artists? When sociologists expose social phenomena together with photographers and urban planners act in a play? Directed by five international teams, interdisciplinary workshop teams will work in two week studio sessions on Vorarlberg-relevant themes at the interface of architecture, urban design, art and sociology.

LOCATION
For six weeks the Palais Thurn & Taxis – which is the gallery of the Vorarlberg Artists Association – will be converted to a studio setup and research laboratory with a continually expanding exhibition on four storeys. The fruitful results thus become a kaleidoscope reflecting the background of Vorarlberg’s building culture. More and more exhibits accumulate in the “open house” thus making public insights possible. The gallery transforms into art laboratories while the park becomes a stage for talks, panel discussions, psychoanalytic sessions, cooking and partying, cabarets and concerts. Meanwhile the studios results will be published in the internet, being digitally accessible to the general public in an open source system. The work will be condensed in analogous form in a catalogue to be published in autumn.

ANTIPODIUM
is an interdisciplinary process researching the interrelationship of building culture and social dynamics. The project was initiated by Vorarlberg architects, with the intention of stimulating new impulses in architecture. The acts have a catalytic effect with a simultaneously festive and academic character for both professionals internationally and the interested public. Focussing on social, urban and cultural models, systems and patterns in contemporary Vorarlberg, the studios analyse their qualities, patterns and impacts. Strategies and conventions will be identified and their complex dependencies and dynamics disclosed. The analysis goes beyond the surface of familiar images and receptions to seemingly invisible patterns, decoding spatial systems and local mechanisms. Maps and diagrams, photo series, installations, video works, performances, drama scenes and text material will document the work done. These inter-medially produced results create a source of analyses and realizations, inspiring vice versa the other groups working in the parallel studios. In effect the studio groups will create a comprehensive portrayal of the situation, regarding a mid-European, Alp-periphery region, from dense sprawls to small, landscape-dominated structures.

REGISTRATION
Applications can be made to the vai, Vorarlberg Architecture Institute as from now by students and graduates in Architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, media design, applied and fine arts, performing arts and sociology. Documents required for the application Curriculum/selection of projects: analogue max. 5 pages up to DIN A3, digital on CD/DVD possible. The copies will not be returned. A maximum of 15 participants per studio, the registration date sequence will be considered.

Participation fee: 350,00 EUR.

For more than one workshop registration per person a 25% reduction is offered

Accommodation: will be organised, please state your requirements when you register.
Language: DEU|ENG
During the workshops, the cultural facilities in Bregenz can be enjoyed with special preferential conditions. More details: www.antipodium.at

Schedule:
STUDIO 1: 21.07 - 01.08, AZRA AKŠAMIJA (US)
STUDIO 2: 28.07 - 08.08, PETER HOLZWARTH (CH), WOLFGANG MEISINGER (A), RUBY SIRCAR (A)
STUDIO 3: 04.08 - 15.08, TOXIC DREAMS (A)
STUDIO 4: 11.08 - 22.08, STALKER (IT)
STUDIO 5: 18.08 - 29.08, AN ARCHITEKTUR (D)