Stente: Residual Zones
The research project “Stente: Residual Zones” explores how art can foster reflection on Commons, which includes both Common Action and Common Space. It questions whether art can serve as a producer of Commons, based on a theoretical framework that sees art and artistic practices as potential responses to global warming and the restructuring of knowledge systems. The Anthropocene is identified as a crucial era challenging traditional notions of science and progress, emphasizing the need for new ways to access and understand the world. In this context, art is viewed as a reflective practice that stimulates intuitive reflection and promotes integrated knowledge through a transdisciplinary approach, opening up diverse perspectives. The project focuses on the reading and understanding of urban spaces in Umeå and its uses in relation to the notion of commons and it has been conducted at Umeå School of Architecture in the framework of the Research Group Designing the Contemporary City. Umeå’s unique climatic and social conditions, characterized by seasonality, make the city a transformative space. This has been explored through the ideation of an artefact that could enable dialogue and discussion on the subject of the current transformation of the city by providing a "common" space and being transportable within the urban context. Art is used as a method. The artefact has been designed following an intuitive method based on the resolution of a handcrafted structure and by establishing a narrative through drawings and text. The device has the aim to initiate physical and verbal dialogue with the city and its inhabitants. The project is divided into three phases illustrated below: 1. Research, 2. Method, 3. Experiment. The Research phase involves analyzing and mapping the context, focusing on Residue and residual spaces. Based on theoretical analysis of “residue,” residual spaces in the city centre were mapped. These often-overlooked spaces in urban planning offer opportunities for diverse uses, facilitating community reflection and participation in shaping them, with the potential for reactivation and re-planning by the community. The Method phase focuses on applying the analysed theoretical concepts to create a movable structure that embodies them, addressing the need for a gathering space. The inspiration for the art/architectural object is the "stone," representing residue as a remnant of something larger, whether naturally or culturally produced. The structure, designed as a “device” to change perceptions of the world, functions as a “tea house” offering “stone tea” to passers-by to spark their curiosity. Using the stone as a central metaphor, the tea is made from wild herbs collected from the surroundings, representing natural elements often overlooked in daily life. The research experiment has been conducted in the framework of the ERASMUS + Programme Traineeship with a focus on “Re-use and Re-activate Urban Voids: A paradigm of the contemporary city” within the Phd research “For a Philosophical Conceptualization of Art and Global Warming: how to promote a new gaze through art as an aesthetic eco-ethic action” at Umeå School of Architecture and in collaboration with the UmArts Research Centre at Umeå University, in the period 16th of March - 31st of May. Research supervisor: Maria Luna Nobile, Associate Professor Umeå School of Architecture.
Traveling installation
20.03.2024 31.05.2024
Umea, Sweden.
Studio 3 - The City as a Laboratoty Research Group Designing the Contemporary City
Umeå School of Architecture UMA School of Architecture
UmArts Research Centre
●Supervision → Sentil Babu Dandhapani (Associated Professor in French Institute of Pondicherry) ●Assistance → Ranjit Kumar, Reshma Reddy