Superkurated

Nuša Zupanc / Master of Arts / Superkurated is a micro company specialized in architectural theory, sustainable architectural, design and museum practices / for work inquiries: [email protected]

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I coordinated the exhibition and catalogue for Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana titled BIO27 Super Vernaculars. The 27th Biennial of Design curated by Jane Withers Studio,  explores a growing and ambitious movement that takes inspiration from vernacular architecture and design traditions to shape a more resilient and equitable future. Read more here: Bio27.si

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Email: [email protected]

Whatsapp: [phone]

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Details of the book Breaking the Intertia of Reality. The book won Prešeren Prize for the academic year 2017.

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In 2016 Superkurated co-authored, fact-checked and proofread a book published by Faculty of Architecture titled: Breaking the Intertia of Reality.

I contributed a chapter titled De Res Scientia about the importance of architectural theory. As well as interviews with philospher Rado Riha, architects Dagur Eggertsso, Sami Rintala and Pritzer Prize winner Anne lacaton.

The book received a highest academic achievement possible: The Prešeren Prize for academic year 2017.

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AWARDS

2012 - RECYCLE-RECHAIR international design competition 1st place; together with Peter Plantan

2017 - PREŠEREN PRIZE for architectural research book BREAKING THE INERTIA OF THE REALITY

2019 - VURNIK RECOGNITION AWARD 

2020 - VALVASOR AWARD for BIO 26| COMMON KNOWLEDGE; together with the MAO, bio and CzK team

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After the UNESCO nomination for Jože Plečnik’s Ljubljana, former director of MAO, Matevž Čelik, commissioned me to conduct an interview with the project group leads: Špela Spanžel and Tomaž Štoka.

They are both renowned art historians and the interview was published in the Slovenian national newspaper DELO.

Nominations of works by the most important architects of the 20th century are made in different ways; Frank Lloyd Wright was introduced through a new floor plan that changed the perception of space and resulted in organic architecture and what American colleagues constantly emphasize is an extremely good sense of whoever uses that architecture. While Le Corbusier was recognized for his influence on the internationalization of new architectural practice, which was theoretically based on his five points of architecture. Plečnik, however, was thought through and articulated differently, through the urban fabric he shaped. In the analysis of the first criterion, which speaks of the masterpiece of human genius, we described this criterion through Plečnik's characteristic architectural language. The fourth criterion, which is intended to substantiate the type of building, the architectural whole as an important stage of development, was connected with public spaces, which were created taking into account the given space and emphasizing its qualities. From this point of view, Plečnik's intervention in history is extremely commendable, especially. From the point of view of his gesture, in modern language it can be connected with architectural and cultural policy, it was a conscious cultural act. This seemed very important to us, as it was a newly emerging capital that suddenly needed other functions, identity and representativeness - and all of these are still relevant today.

- Špela Spanžel 

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BIO 26| Common knowledge

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MAO comissioned Superkurated to renovate the Ajdovščina Underpass without any financial input. Everything is reused from the MAO storages and then returned to the Museum. Together with Maruša Kuret, we managed to successfully renovate the underpass and transform it into a dystopian social hub. The hub was a free space for local creatives and international participants.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION (September 2019 - February 2020):

Selection of works, author of layouts (layout plans), layout management for 8 exhibited projects;

Catalog of the accompanying program, exhibition guide and leaflet with all exhibits;

There were more than 40 events in Ajdovščina Underpass! Super proud!

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Work process November 2020 - Concept for the Ravnikar Potokar Architecture Office

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OUTSIDER COLLABORATION

June 2017 - May 2018

I was comissioned by the Outsider Magazine to coordinate and set up a webshop of Slovenian product and industrial designers, ceramicists, graphic designers and writers.

For the online edition of the magazine, I contributed over 20 articles and interviews on Slovenian design and architecture. 

My role was also the administration and management of communication with designers and architects. 

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I had the privilege to interview Australian architects Richard Leplastrier and Peter Stutchbury. 

The interview was published in Slovenian national newspaper DELO.

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ETH ZURICH, ADAM CARUSO SEMINAR, Reading Jože Plečnik Project.

My role was the coordination of the architecture workshop and helping students from ETH Zurich to obtain all the permissions to research and photograph otherwise unaccessible buildings of Jože Plečnik. The photographs above are from the exhibition of the Reading Jože Plečnik Project.

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DIALOGUES - Proposal for Slovenian Pavillion at 2020 Venice Architecture Biennial. Together with architect Tamara Németh and designer and curator Dorotea Škrabo.

Take a look at the booklet here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AZfed99UHVl4F6dWcupTvy1gn0ciGtPn/view?usp=sharing

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Recreating Memory – Transformation of the Main Square (Glavni trg) in Novo Mesto into a poetic legacy for the common future

January, 2021

Architecture is a factor which goes beyond a mere spatial solution. Upon careful consideration, the communicative value of the space emerges in the form of the new opportunities it offers.  

The old city centre of Novo Mesto features a number of quality historical spatial interventions, such as the sculptures Hostage and Song to Freedom which – together with the memorial loggia to the National Liberation Front – create the On the Gates  (Na vratih) spatial solution designed in 1953 by the architect Marjan Mušič and the sculptor Jakob Savinšek. Also important is the memorial on the spot where two partisans, Franc Janc and Alojz Hacin, were hung in the most humiliating manner. The memorial is symbolically low – it illustrates the height of the gallows, which were so low that the two men’s legs had to be tied to their bodies to prevent them from touching the ground. Then follow the arcades of the atrium houses, the Town Hall, and the marble fountain designed by Mušič with an engraved poem by Dragotin Kette, which replaced the former cast-iron fountain. The view then follows the Kandijski Bridge to rest on the hill of Grm.

Before, these gestures and existing interventions by Mušič never stood a chance to form a quality space together, and the city centre was far from offering such a space to all its users. The spatial chaos and complete subordination of the city centre to road traffic entirely outweighed the fundamental function of the square: to provide an outstanding, open common space.

ATELIERarhitekti approached the task with the desire to re-establish the spatial hierarchy on the square – an ambition so far unattainable due to the differing levels and the surface of the road. However, once the square became a traffic-free zone, the spatial order, citizens and cultural activities regained priority. In the new spatial arrangement, they obtained their place, while the smaller ambiences promote new ideas of spatial use.

The complete article is published in Autumn 2020 issue of Piranesi No. 42-43/Vol. 28.

Project Data

Client Municipality of Novo mesto

Year of project 2016

Year of completion 2018-2019

Awards 1st prize in public competition

Architects Jurij Kobe, Nataša Blažko, Maja Kovačič, Tanja Paulin, Peter Plantan, Urša Podlipnik

Collaborators ACER d.o.o., UTRIS d.o.o.

Area 8400 m²

Author of the article Nuša Zupanc

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UNESCO nominations of the works of the most important architects of the 20th century are made in several different ways; Frank Lloyd Wright was introduced through a new floor plan that changed the perception of space and resulted in organic architecture and what American colleagues constantly emphasize - an extremely good sense of whoever uses that architecture. While Le Corbusier was recognized for his influence on the internationalization of new architectural practice, which was theoretically based on his five points of architecture. Plečnik, however, was thought through and articulated differently, through the urban fabric he shaped. In the analysis of the first criterion, which speaks of the masterpiece of human genius, we described this criterion through Plečnik's characteristic architectural language. The fourth criterion, which is intended to substantiate the type of building, the architectural whole as an important stage of development, was connected with public spaces, which were created taking into account the given space and emphasizing its qualities. From this point of view, Plečnik's intervention in history is extremely commendable, especially. From the point of view of his gesture, in modern language it can be connected with architectural and cultural policy, it was a conscious cultural act. This seemed very important to us, as it was a newly emerging capital that suddenly needed other functions, identity and representativeness - and all of these are still relevant today.

ŠPELA SPANŽEL

After submitting the UNESCO nomination for Plečnik’s work, Špela Spanžel and Tomaž Štoka sat down for an interview about the nomination. I published the interview in February 2020 in Slovenian national newspaper DELO.

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LIST OF PARTNERS AND CLIENTS 2016 - 2021

Oris Magazine

Piranesi Magazine

Ravnikar Potokar Architects

Beletrina Publishing House

Faculty of Architecture

Outsider Magazine

Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana

Center of Architecture Slovenia 

Delo d.d. 

Goethe Institut Ljubljana

ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe

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January 2020 - I was comissioned, together with SUPERKURATED colleague Maruša Kuret, by Goethe Institute, ZKM Karlsruhe and MAO to coordinate the exhibition THE DATA AND THE SOVEREIGN and produce the catalogue together with Grupa EE designers.

Participating artists and designers: 

Kim Albrecht, 

DISNOVATION.ORG, 

Hasan Elahi, 

Geraldine Juárez, 

Maral Pourkazemi 

Kate Crawford (in cooperation with Deep Lab). 

The projects were selected by the wonderful Livia Nolasco-Rózsás.