We are delighted that our book project “Charter of Dubai” is part of the exhibition “The Library” in the framework of Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019: “Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth“ at Oslo’s National Museum. Our “Charter of Dubai” will be exhibited there under theme “Commoning on the Obsolete“.
For Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019 the National Museum is transformed to a library filled with books, drawings, models, movies, and board games exploring alternatives to growth. It is curated by London-based Interrobang.
“Commoning on the Obsolete” picks up on the subtheme of Lose youself with a productive critique of a mega-large architecture that is the very emblem of the growth economy. It renders the structure of heightened individulalism obsolete by speculating on new spaces of commonality.
The man-made peninsula Palm Jumeirah on the coast of Dubai is a project of superlatives and an exemplary model for the gated communities and resorts that have developed worldwide in property bubbles. In our book project “Charter of Dubai” it undergoes a radical make-over. Each transformation step stems from a critique angled at a specific social or environmental concern. Remediating stinking water results in eddies and wildlife. The curvilinear urban form gives way to solar concentration high-rises. 7-bathroom villas become compounds shared between 7 households. And so on.
We believe that an architecture of the common has to make use of what it there, take in the sunken capital and spring from the obsolete. Thus it will be a restart from within the existing. It is encouraging to detect frameworks and a fi eld of appropriation even in the very icons of an era that we wish to leave behind.
Our contribution to „The Library“ of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019 is a folio book, 54 x 84 cm with 12 transformation scenarios synthesied into the vision X-Palm. The large sheets with fine line drawings invite to actively engage in the turning of pages, one by one, transformation by transformation.
Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019: “Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth“
26. September – 24. November 2019
Opening: “The Library”
26 September 2019, 19:00-21:00
The National Museum – Architecture, Bankplassen 3, Oslo
Opening speech by Director at The National Museum Karin Hindsbo, British Ambassador Richard Wood, Director of OAT Hanna Dencik Petersson and by Matthew Dalziel from the curator team Interrobang.
Project:
Charter of Dubai
related publications:
Giraffes, Telegraphs, and Hero of Alexandria – Urban Design by Narration
Charter of Dubai – A Manifesto of Critical Urban Transformation
Further information:
Nasjonalmuseet | The National Museum: Eröffnung “The Library”
Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019: “Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth“
Oslo Architecture Triennale: “The Library