Camp for Oppositional Architecture

June 25th till 27th 2004
Gottschedstr. 4, 13357 Berlin, Germany

This international, open congress is searching for possibilities of resistance within the field of architecture and planning. How to criticize the demands of a capitalist production of space? How to take a non-affirmative part within this powerful contiguity?

Organizer:   An Architektur

The journal “An Architektur“ was founded by a group of architects and planners at the beginning of 2002 continuing the work of the architecture collective „freies fach” – a group that had sought, since the mid 1990s, to assess critically the restrictive reconstruction of Berlin and the relevant political and economical conditions through actions, exhibitions, and small publications.

An Architektur is the exercise of discursive architectural practice. For us, both the critical analysis of spatial relations and the visualization of their inherent sociopolitical conceptions offer a possibility of political agency. In monothematic issues, socio-political criteria are applied to concrete examples and questions of space and architecture. An Architektur exposes the wider social and political implications of topics which tend to be discussed too introspectively only within the domain of architecture as well as their effect on and relevance to everyday life.

My Artist Statement

I have been driven by a passion to pursue political activity related to art and possibilities in art through mobile technology. Oppositional Architecture, drives me a statement for virtual space which normally do not consider as architecture. In Open Source City Festival, I was collaborating with luka frelih (ljubljana, slovenia), alejo duque (columbia) to work on a war driving project seeking the wireless lan point in Strasbourg. We experienced to hack into some encryted network but experienced how people behave/perform will somehow changing the space and architecture entirely. The people on the street looked at us in a very weird way since we were a group of people with laptops, GPS and other equipments. Since we are not “suppose” to do that on the street, some people found us very interesting and some even walk slower and look at us. There is some changes in the interaction between people.  net symbolises a space for information, e-commerce, peoples' netwrok and globalisation. The wireless network become more and more common in a sense that people does not realise that their commodity are being used and they shared with others. The concept of wireless lan network somehow against the traditional concept of architecture since it is not a physical space but we cannot ignore its existence and it will bring us information, network, communication with others and commodity. It is a very neutral, liberal, open source “commodity” but at the same time, it is linked to globalisation. The action of war driving changes the architecture and the concept of wireless lan network is a ironic architecture.

Oppositional architecture does not means political activism in the city space against capitalism only but also about the interaction between people and hence change in the function in architecture. We are all performers in our daily lives and there are some space which we need to behave/ perform exactly what other expects. In war driving, we are not only searching the virtual space in physical space but also it is a performance and hence change the function of the architecture, the interaction between people.

Meanwhile, internet symbolises a space for information, e-commerce, peoples' netwrok and globalisation. The wireless network become more and more common in a sense that people does notrealise that their commodity are being used and they shared with others. The concept of wireless lan network somehow against the traditional concept of architecture since it is not a physical space but we cannot ignore its existence and it will bring us information, network, communication with others and commodity. It is a very neutral, liberal, open source “commodity” but at the same time, it is linked to globalisation. The action of war driving changes the architecture and the concept of wireless lan network is a ironic architecture.