[walkingmatilde]

Atlas of Remoteness. Liechtenstein

THE LINE – Atlas of Remoteness documents the exploration of contemporary landscapes by walking along a straight line around the Earth. This volume focuses on a segment that goes from the River Rhine to the High Alps extending through the territory of Liechtenstein. THE LINE is a project by the Institute for Linear Research, an independent research platform. Interviews with: Günther Vogt, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Alkistis Thomidou, Mario Broggi, Ulrike Mayr, Peter Staub and Walter Walch Contributors: Ahmed Elsoudy, Alexander Sokolov, Bianca Böckle, Eddie Sardeng, Enrique Hernández González, Hanna Hajda, Holger Dörner, Jin Yiran, Kateryna Dyma, Martin Mràz, Megan Quirey, Michelle Rheinberger, Nina Beck, Nina Meusburger, Philipp Entner, Rüya Hilal Aydede, Sami Akkach, Sofia Liberali, Tatjana Probst and Ümit Mesci Designed by Studio Krispin Hée

Available at Motto Berlin

[walkingmatilde]

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SOCIÓPOLIS? 

Urban narratives: architecture, real estate crisis and living the unfinished

PhD research project.  

 Supervisor: Univ.Prof. Mag. PhD. Elke Krasny. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien

Sociópolis (2003- ongoing) is an iconic “unfinished” social housing urban development in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain. The aim of the dissertation is to provide a comprehensive study of the territory the project is inscribed in, the planning process, the political and economic context —with a particular focus on the rupture caused by the impact of real estate speculation and financial crisis in 2007/2008—, the built spaces the project has resulted in, and how the hundreds of residents inhabit and use Sociópolis today. The research on the three elements: the planned, the built, and the lived space, seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the architecture and real estate dynamics, inhabitant’s hands-on urbanism to counteract the real estate crisis and to building urban narratives that challenge the notion of the unfinished as a failure.

2022  Dissertationsstipendium für die Abschlussphase. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien

2019-2021 Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften DOC Fellow (poster)

2021: Paper Presentation. “Whatever Happened to Sociópolis? A Project for a City of the Future”. 4. Österreichisches Doktorand_innensymposion der Architektur, Fakultät für Architektur, Universität Innsbruck. Paper Presentation. “Thinking with the unfinished. The urban reality of an unbuilt megaproject”. International Conference “GRAND PROJECTS – Urban Legacies of the late 20th Century”, Iscte-IUL, Lisbon.

2020:

Paper Presentation. Graduiertenkonferenz 2020. “Whatever happened to Sociopolis? Urban narratives: architecture, real estate crisis and living the unfinished”. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien.

2019: Public Walk. “Whatever Happened to Sociópolis? A walk among the Unfinished”. Faculty of Fine Arts, Universitat Politécnica de València. PhD Presentation. “Whatever Happened to Sociópolis?”. Hochschule der Künste Bern.

[walkingmatilde]

The Institute for Linear Research

instituteforlinearresearch.org

1. THE LINE is an arbitrary straight line traced across the globe. The Institute for Linear Research will focus its research on the particular geography defined by it. here is a map of THE LINE. 

2. The research will be conducted by walking on THE LINE. Walking allows engagement with the landscape that is unpolluted by outmoded theories or preconceived hierarchies of what is important.

3. The Institute for Linear Research is concerned with places that have thus far slipped any attention. THE LINE allows conducting a research into landscapes that we do not even know exist. THE LINE is not representative or complete if judged by taxonomies such as continents, climate zones or countries. Contemporary landscapes cannot be captured by distributing research in these categories. We believe that the random selection of spaces, that following THE LINE entails, will lead us to the unknown.

4. The Institute for Linear Research looks for project partners that are in physical proximity to THE LINE. With this guiding principle, the Institute aims to circumvent the obvious and establish new and unexpected relations between countries, museums, artists, researchers , art and architecture schools, and anyone with an interest in walking and landscape.

5. The collected research outcomes will be published as a book series under The Infinite Publication Series label. The books are not an end in themselves but rather a tool for involving people and starting a public discourse. The first volume focuses on Liechtenstein and will be available in Spring 2020. It will include essays and interviews with local experts.

[walkingmatilde]

The Line.

Exhibition, 2018

The Conquest of Remoteness in Liechtenstein Opening: Saturday, May 26th 2018, 7pm Exhibition: May 27th through May 30th 2018, 2 pm to 9 pm Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi, Venice

THE LINE explores the shrinkage of remote territory in Liechtenstein in relation to corresponding architectural and infrastructural typologies. Liechtenstein is characterized by a high proximity of urban centres, agriculture and remote alpine areas, resulting mainly from the extreme topography. THE LINE, a cross-section through the country, will be the framework to investigate the shrinking remoteness of FL, from disconnected and fragmented landscapes of the past to highly interlinked spaces of today. The principal method of research – walking, will provide the opportunity to analyse not only the formation of the country since its initial settlement 7000 years ago, but also the relation of topography and architecture. The results of the project will be delivered through an exhibition at Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi in Venice opening on 26 May 7pm. The exhibition will be open to the public from 27 May through 30 May 2018. The exhibition will take place in Liechtenstein, opening on 5 June at Rathausplatz in Vaduz, and will be open to the public from 6 June through 29 June 2018 at the University of Liechtenstein. An accompanying program will soon be announced. The exhibition is part of a research project conducted together with the students of Studio Venice at the University of Liechtenstein.

Organisation Liechtenstein Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Education and Culture University of Liechtenstein Curators THE LINE is curated by Luis Hilti and Matilde Igual Capdevila from the University of Liechtenstein with Ümit Mesci. Participants Ahmed Elsoudy, Alexander Sokolov, Eddie Sardeng, Enrique Hernández, Hanna  Hajda, Holger Dörner, Jin Yiran, Kateryna Dyma, Martin Mraz, Megan Quirey, Michelle Rheinberger, Nina Beck, Nina Meusburger, Philipp Entner, Rüya Hilal Aydede, Sami Akkach, Sofia Liberali and Tatjana Probst. Supported by Liechtenstein Cultural Foundation Zumtobel ProHelvetia Roeckle AG Hilti group Thanks to Bianca Böckle Christof Frommelt Anna Hilti Alkistis Thomidou Pavle Stamenovic Sebastian Utzni

[walkingmatilde]

C.A.T. A Guidebook to Life Elsewhere

Book (2019)

From 2016–19 students of the Art&Science master course have been working on the implications of a contemporary academic discourse that aims at reframing our understanding of ‘nature’ through the annual topic ‘In the Woods – In the Wild’. Artistic imaginations concerning nature become markedly influenced by new insights of various scientific disciplines. In order to narrow down this rather broad topic, the research focused on the question of ‘what is a forest?’. Students were exposed to a multidisciplinary scientific discourse inspired by many new theoretical and practical silvicultural insights. These theoretical discussions regarding our relationship with nature were complemented by an experiential and experimental component where students could deepen their understanding on forests through practical on-site research. For this purpose, they stayed in the forests of Transcarpathia (Ukraine) for ten days in July 2017. Together with local stakeholders, visions and versions of what a forest ‘is’ were debated. In a second phase, the group returned to the Ukrainian forests in September 2018 to assemble its research findings, allies and questions around a plot of land in Nyzhnje Selyshche in search for a latent commons. The 48-hour happening, ‘The Landing is on Friday’, was an event of ‘speculative ecology’. It took place between trees and ruins and welcomed aliens that had emerged beyond our (knowledge)horizons. The guidebook produced results from the collective experience in speculative research. Texts by: Brishty Alam, Guadalupe Aldrete, Golnaz Bashiri, Rosie Benn, Margit Busch, Valerie Deifel, Johanna Folkmann, Maximilian Gallo, Athanasios Gramosis, Matilde Igual Capdevila, Bernd Kräftner, Rafael Lippuner, Marko Marković, Frédérique Neuts, Marina Rebhandl Editors: Bernd Kräftner, Brishty Alam, Valerie Deifel

Publisher: University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2019

Design concept: Matilde Igual Capdevila

Cooperation partners: Molotok (Khust rayon public organization), Bogdan Popov (Ecosololutions Forge), Rupert Seidl (University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences Vienna) This book can be purchased from the Art & Science office and at the bookstore Walther König in Vienna. Please contact us on [email protected].

[walkingmatilde]

Inaccurate Map of the Landing Zone

A2 digital print (2018)

Realized during and after the event The Landing is on Friday.

The landing zone was around Nyzhnje Selyshche, Ukraine. The landing took place on 21–23 September 2018, Friday 16:00 to Sunday 16:00.

[walkingmatilde]

... boredom will take you somewhere else (2016)

installation + poster ( 500 copies, A2, digital print)

part of the collectively organized exhibit if you walk through the unified field of forces at the essence 16.

this work continues the spatial exploration initiated by the project and things happen taking on the study of urban spaces and its elements as a point of departure.

[walkingmatilde]

Did you know?

Research, animation / award competition (2016)

together with Adrijan Karavdic.

“Did you know?” takes you on a tour around the world and presents three origin stories of currencies from the future. Set in a post-apocalyptic scenario  (neither dystopian, nor utopian), the tales explore new possible ways of understanding money in societies starting from scratch.

Inspired with experiments in currencies from the depression era, historical ethnographic accounts on local economies in remote areas, current developments in alternative economies as well as the possibilities of virtual currencies, the short documentary questions assumptions and certainties.

These are screenshots are from the video that was awarded the second prize in 2016, Future of Money Award. Topic: Origins of Money.

Full video: https://vimeo.com/164972688 - “Arguably there has been no greater time of financial uncertainty than today and no greater need for fresh ideas and imaginative insights which help inform, suggest and question our current technological, social and cultural direction. Whatever the true origin of money is, all monetary origin stories, true or false, inform our understanding of currency.

The task of the Future of Money Award 2016 competition was to create a new origin story surrounding a monetary artefact or theory. We are looking for monetary origin stories that challenge the way we think about the nature of money. Therefore, all current or past monetary artefacts can be used as a starting point. For example, gold and silver, coins, paper notes, credit cards, binary code, NFC (Near Field Communication), Chip and Pin, Bitcoin, big stone blocks and everything in between.”

More information at:www.futuremoneyaward.com

[walkingmatilde]

Looking Back, Moving forward, 2016

Published essay, Gardiate Journal of Social Science

Looking Back, Moving Forward: Reflection on STS Twenty Years after the Green Storm (Version of 15 March 2035) 

Abstract

In this essay we present a broad picture of the development of Science and Technology Studies (STS) during the last 20 years. Through a historical approach and the use of fluid methodologies we study STS literature and the public reaction to it. The essay focuses on explaining the rise of this particular field of Social Sciences and the reasons for the recent conflicts within it. The authors argue that the developments of STS were intertwined with the retelling and repositioning of the events of the Green Storm attack. Taking this into account, this new approach provides valuable additions to our understanding and it contributes to a further theorizing of academic research, the role of academia in policy-making and the appearance of new schools of thought. Furthermore, while most previous research on the Green Storm events and history of STS failed to acknowledge this double contingency, our preliminary findings indicate that it is crucial not only to understand the past of STS, but also its future.

Keywords 

Green Storm, STS, year 2034, PLCT, critical botanism, paperclip theory, Art & Science,climate change, eco terrorism, sustainability, meat production, oil extraction, big data

Graduate Journal of Social Science. Volume 12, Issue 2Changing Worlds: Ideologies, Utopias and Ambitions in Science & Technology

with Benedict Endler

[walkingmatilde]

Print materials, 2016

Different formats for the Art & Science Institute.

[walkingmatilde]

Histoire-géo (2015)

table, compass, wood elements, hand-drawn cards

[walkingmatilde]

hiding under the spotlight (2015/2016)

installation, 4,4m x 2,2m

Ein Raum im Raum, ein Ort anzuhalten, ein Ort, der uns an einen anderen Ort transportiert. Ein Vorhang unter einer Lichtkuppel fokussiert als zylindrischer Raum das Licht nach unten, und referiert somit räumliche als auch psychoanalytische Fragen. Der Vorhang schützt uns vor Blicken, und zieht durch seine Theatralik gleichzeitig Blicke an. Er schafft einen Raum, ein Versteck, das uns möglicherweise mit der äußeren Welt verbinden könnte und thematisiert damit diese fragile Beziehung. 

[walkingmatilde]

notebooks (2016)

ink, paper, digital color

[walkingmatilde]

and things happen (2016)

a publication + an installation. Diploma project.

first proposition Science finds its limits when dealing with an object which cannot be comprehended within one single discipline. The urban question is such an object.Cities do offer “a problem in handling organized complexity”Even the description of a square and the understanding of its functioning, a simple task, a point of detail, is connected to so many fields of knowledge that it is impossible to carry out.The parts of the research lack connections and something is missing. What could it be? The everyday?

second proposition Stories and sketeches, immediate representations of the square. A collection of obsessive field work attempting to grasp the everyday, the unnoticed, the nothings. Some inventions, fictions to fill the gaps of observation. Inviting a few dead authors, mostly french, mostly marxist, to discuss the city, the urban, the everyday, alienation and squares.

third proposition An installation transposing the square somewhere else. A work in abstraction, reduction and translation.

0º. preamble a. obsession b. previous projects

0. introduction a. program for the project b. the structure of the text c. fact, fiction, literature

1. squares

a. what is a square?

b. how does it relate to the urban? are squares useless? exchange value/use value public space and consumption revolts and feasts occupying the squares

c. regarding kolonitzplatz materials & animals a tale of two squares a letter describing kolonitzplatz as a friend to a friend

2. borders

a. what is a border? physical borders functional borders spontaneous segregation

b. how does it relate to the urban?

c. regarding kolonitzplatz elements schedules the story of the ice-cream shop the story of Sinan and his friends

3. the everyday

a. what is the everyday life?

b. how does it relate to the urban? time and space nothing what happens when nothing happens the everyday, doing nothing and how to be an expert of the everyday the square, doing nothing and the everyday hopeful/ no ambitions

c. regarding kolonitzplatz lost woman, lost cat, lost bag some notes at the beginning of the project 17:10- 17:30 / 23.10.2015 29.10.2015 kolonitzplatz at 7 during a snowstorm. A report from a friend.

4. authors in conversation

a.Georges Pérec b. Henri Lefèbvre c. Michel de Certeau d. Jane Jacobs

5. conclusions

a. doing something or doing nothing? doing nothing to do something afterwards? b. list of ideas for the kolonitzplatz

6. and things happen (epilogue)

a. from hanging out to installing b. transforming elements. sketches for an installation

7. references

a. references (names as i can remember of people who might have had an influence on this project) b. classes attended in the last three years (relevant to the work) a last quote

[walkingmatilde]

Selfology (2015)

Installation, print, slideshow

part of this exhibition

The map reflects the mapmaker Selfology begins as an attempt to produce an atlas of the self. Here the map is not only a reflection but a representation of the mapmaker herself. Selfology intends to explore, understand and enhance the map-maker through the datafictaion of her daily activities, routines, moods and efficiency levels. By using several self-tracking applica-tions freely available on the market, information is gathered over several months on a mobile device. Selfology explores the possibilities of apps for creating objective representations of ourselves. Can these tools allow us to become experts of our bodies and minds? And what then? What lies behind the promises of happiness and healthy living the quantified-self movement offers? Selfology proposes ultimately a physically built space, an expe-riment in translating the mapmaker’s virtual realm as a self-tracker, a control room of the self, an analog rendering of the digital spaces of self-absorption. The room, in its elements, materials and general layout combines different impressions: the health imperative, the coziness of an idealised private sphere, the appeal of photogenic interiors, the mild isolation, the everyday boredom and the childish flair of tents. A temple for self-improvement and for the joy of discovering patterns.

[walkingmatilde]

Cargo Control (2015)

Research-based installation.

Exhibition developed as part of a research project by the department of Art&Science, University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Schleifmühlgasse 12-14

Cargo Control consists of various wooden parts of a control room center, as we know them from utopian and futuristic Sci-Fi movies. These objects relate to both, the research regarding control rooms and their inherent technologies, as well as to a cult called Cargo Cult. During the academic year 2014/2015 the department Art & Science at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna was holding a research project on the future of control room centers. The participating students had their focus on topics such as control in human-computer interaction, history of control rooms in film and architecture, politics of interfaces and interface design - just to name a few. Beside this research and development, the group started reflecting and combine their outcome through a, lets say so, more artistic practice, which was brought into the project by Peter Moosgaard, (artist and inventor of the Austrian Cargo Cult movement). Based on this knowledge about the cult, as well as on the discussion and the supervision by Peter Moosgaard, the participating artists Matilde Igual Capdevile, Benedict Endler, Adrijan Karavdic and Sebastian Kienzl built their vision of a control room, based on the principles of Cargo.

[walkingmatilde]

Public Life- Towards a Politics of Care. Bodies. Place. Matter.

PhD Symposium, Vienna. 17/18 April 2015.

Collaborative organization & documentation of the event.

Urban cultures and public space serve as windows to enter the field of urban studies. They are not separate themes, rather dialectically intertwined, depicting urban space as space which encompasses both physical arrangements and social space. Moreover, urban studies have not only to deal with urban space as a special kind of place, but also as the process of production which involves multiple publics and political life. That is why the Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space at Vienna University of Technology (SKuOR) finds it important to treat urban space research as a field in which theory and practice foster each other, where theory is often related to concrete spatial experiences and professional practice and where the relation between everyday life and generation of scientific insights are mutually affected.

The symposium was conceived as an exchange among disciplines and cultures. The concept itself derives from the cooperation in the organization of the event across different research fields and institutions. Under the common notion of Politics of Care, three focus points were defined to give room for each of the organizing parties (see above) to offer a perspective onto the topic. Bodies, Place and Matter can thus be understood as a set of starting points for a dialogue on what a Politics of Care can be. Accordingly, the symposium consisted of three panels, corresponding to these core elements, each followed by a general discussion.