UTOPISTAS

MUDAM
cultural program
endless
under construction
2019

Utopistas - An Everyday of Earthly Delights

 

Summer 2019, Mudam Publics invites the Luxembourg architectural practice, 2001, to explore current

retrospective exhibition Bert Theis. Building Philosophy – Cultivating Utopia.

The program is a series of activities and events that explore notions of public space and transforming urban space:

 

 

Aggloworld: Collaging utopia

Agglomorate (to) /əˌɡlɑː.məˈreɪ.ʃən/ :

the action or process of collecting in a mass, a cluster of usually disparate elements.

A large group of many different things collected or brought together.

 

Ad-hoc visions: In this freely accessible permanent workshop, participants are invited to recompose urban fictions and alternative narratives for their built environment. By means of collage, existing constructions, situations and landscape elements can be brought together in order to form utopian sceneries. 

 

Philosophic Picnic : utopia in-between

Picnic /ˈpɪk.nɪk/ a meal taken outdoors as part of an excursion – ideally in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view.

 

Into public deserts and Beyond: This extramuros excursion calls participants to venture along some of Europe’s most iconic public buildings and picnic in the deserted yet surprising in-betweens; between columns, buildings, jurisdictions, security protocols… For a brief moment, Utopistas will appropriate and enliven public space, thus disrupting the status quo of the Eurocrat ghetto.

 

Palimpsest : Utopia Ghostwriting

Palimpsest ​  /ˈpæl.ɪmp.sest/ :

a very old text or document in which writing has been removed and covered or replaced by new writing

formal something such as a work of art that has many levels of meaning, types of style, etc. that build on each other:

There is an urgent societal need to demand the impossible: In collaboration with Sacha Rein,  professional Typographer & Graphic Designer, participants are invited to first articulate utopian slogans based on their idealistic dreams and desires, then to design and make a protest sign publicly reclaiming their utopian demands.

 

Hey Frank, where are the 2% (good architecture)* ?

Le modernisme architectural et urbain dans l’oeuvre de Bert Theis.  Is the title of Marion Vergin’s 2018 Master Thesis. In a casual setting, she will give a lecture providing insights on the relation between modern Architecture and Urbanity and Bert Theis’ work.(*title taken from Bert Theis’ collage)

 

Sauna never Sorry : Sauna pudique dans l’espace public

On the place de l’Europe, between European Institutions, luxury apartments and high-brow cultural establishments, Bert Theis’ European Pentagon Safe & Sorry Pavilion will host a Sauna. Disrupting the daily business and status quo of its surroundings, Safe&Sorry will offer a moment of most intimate social gathering inviting passer-bys to linger, meet and exchange.