Exhibition
Teamwork is an exhibition and a workshop series organised by LEAP Collective and KÉK which builds on research into the work of architect Konrad Wachsmann. Born in Frankfurt/Oder in 1901, Wachsmann was a visionary proponent of technological progress in architecture, a cause he promoted widely until his death in Los Angeles in 1980. After WWII, Wachsmann’s scientific and collaborative approach to architecture became the predominant element in his pedagogical and design methods. Between summer schools in Austria, seminars in Japan, and lectures in the US, Wachsmann developed innovative models for team-based learning, simultaneously designing new forms of collaboration and architecture.
Call for collaborators
Open research 10th–11th December, KÉK Budapest
The Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre together with LEAP Collective invites contributions to the workshops accompanying the exhibition The Art of Joining: Teamwork. The two-day workshop aims to create a platform for the exchange of knowledge on historical and contemporary collaborative practices in architecture and design. We welcome contributions from groups and individuals in any form, conceived in relation to the three thematic sections of the workshops.
Deadline: latest 2019, Dec 7th
Format of the contribution is open.
Between 5–20 min, about
Registration is appreciated,
[1] Factory: How do we work cooperatively? -- This workshop will focus on understanding modes of collective production, starting with the stark contrast between capitalist systems of factory labour and communist work brigades, juxtaposing their influences on architectural production. Drawing on historical case studies, the session will engage with contemporary issues through the question of ownership and authorship in the collective work in the past and in the present of global knowledge sharing infrastructures.
[2] Network: How do we organize? -- We will explore the network as both a figure of collaboration and a form of labor in this workshop. Working from Konrad Wachsmann’s concept of the interdisciplinary web, we will ask how collaborators past and present have built connections across geographic and disciplinary distances. How has the network been produced historically as an effect of technologies such as the telephone, fax, and airplane? Now, when networking routinely takes place online, what advantages might exist in sharing space and being present together? We invite contributors to reflect on networks and networking in their own practices or as observed in historical cases.
[3] School: How do we learn together? -- In this workshop we would like to discuss and experiment with collaborative methods of learning. Taking Konrad Wachsmann’s strictly designed educational formats as a starting point, we ask if there is a learning method that matches the collaborative design-process in architectural and design production? Sharing, re-reading and re-assembling information are key techniques in our knowledge production. Through historical case-studies and contemporary practices we will (and you are invited to) discuss the tools that serve today’s global knowledge network.
Contributions to the workshops can relate to practices of teamwork and collaboration in the fields of architecture and design, as well as contemporary debates and individual experiences. The format of contributions is open: we welcome talks, case study presentations, methodology discussions, visual essays, film and audio recordings. The outcomes of the workshops in forms accepted by contributors will be incorporated into the exhibition Teamwork with an acknowledgment of the shared authorship. Workshop collaborators who are interested in editing and exhibition design are invited to take part in the installation of the expanded exhibition from Thurs–Fri (2019, 12–13th December). We have a budget for travel/accommodation costs that we will share with early submitters.
Please send applications including: short description of the contribution with delineated topic and form/method; Short bio (max 300 words) and/or CV of no more than 2 pages; to teamwork@kek.org.hu before 7th December 2019. We look forward to working together in Budapest.
teamwork@instagram
L.E.A.P. Collective met at the Bauhaus Dessau in 2018. Their first exhibition, The Art of Joining: Designing the Universal Connector, was developed alongside Bauhaus fellows and scholars, and examined the experimental architecture of German émigré Konrad Wachsmann in relation to questions of pedagogy, technology, and politics. L.E.A.P.’s collaborative work synthesizes the varied expertise of its members, who are active in architecture, design, history, journalism, teaching and curating. Aided by the unique methodologies of their respective fields, the team produces critical investigations that transport concepts to new contexts. L.E.A.P. works together across distances and time zones, with members living and working in Berlin (Eva-Maria Offermann), New York & Cambridge (Phillip Denny), Vienna (Lisi Zeininger), and Warsaw & Manchester (Adam Przywara).
The project is the winning entry of the 33.3 m2 curatorial competition launched by the Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre. Sponsors: National Cultural Fund, Municipality of Újbuda, Goethe Institute Budapest.
Banner: Foto © Galvin Library Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago / Fonts © Monkey Type + Daria Petrova
