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Fictional Humanisms. A critical reportage

Marco Brizzi

74:42 min

The video "Fictional Humanism. A critical reportage" has been part of the installation curated by Davide Rapp e Marco Brizzi within "Are We Human?", the 2016 Istanbul Design Biennale curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley. Visitors of the event encountered some of the inhabitants of environments designed by architects and only existing in the form of short film. An installation was set up in front of a large screen, where specimens from a fictional population were awaiting, shaped as a series of 20 silhouettes, 1:1 scale, made out of double-side printed foam. On the front side of each silhouette the characters were portrayed. On the back side of the silhouettes, information on each character was provided, in a narrative style winking at classical anthropological literature. Statements, memories, dreams that indirectly refer to their worlds. Guests met this population in person and discover it, while being documented about its environments, behaviors, and rituals. Moving around the silhouettes, and spending some time with this fictional population, visitors got a glimpse on their life.




"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world." (Margaret Mead)


WHEN INTRODUCED IN VIDEO, architectural projects change, both in their identity and in their ontology. Design ideas thus leave their original status of intimacy and confront themselves with a vast potential public exposure. After a worldwide dissemination, spectators start sharing each project's narration, experiencing its vision, and sometimes meeting its residents.

Let's look at them now, as featured in "Fictional Humanism. A critical reportage". In the course of time, human presences in architectural imagery continuously changed. Diverse representational needs suggested architects to include figures in their projects. Not only have architectural ideas changed over time, suggesting variable humanities to be incorporated; the ideology of humanity has evolved at the same time, influenced by geographical and cultural conditions.


"Auuugh! I had this vision. A gigantic arena. Carved out from stone. Auugh! A place where I can run. So fast! Uuuh! Then I met this strange animal, all dressed up in metal. Ghuuuu!". A gorilla sketches the scheme for a stadium in a rugged prehistoric environment. This gorilla lives close to the Braga Municipal Stadium designed by Eduardo Souto de Moura and filmed by Edgar Pêra ("Stadium (phantas-mix)", Portugal 2005).

"While inhabiting this world, curled up in my transparent capsule, this space module above me, I feel I don't need any object or overimposed structure to relate myself to other beings." A young woman sits under a space capsule, reflecting on the rediscovery of ourselves. She lives in the film "Supersurface - An alternative model for life on the Earth" by Superstudio (Italy 1972).

"This house is so beautiful! It always surprises me. And I myself like to surprise my guests: they wouldn't expect me to have three bears and the big bad wolf as intimate friends. Not sure I'm gonna tell it to Gramma." A surprisingly unrepressed little red riding hood welcomes wolfs and bears into her new house. She lives in El Espinar House designed by Miguel de Guzmán and filmed by Imagen Subliminal (Spain 2013).

"I'm going crazy with this building. Every single piece revealed during its construction invites me to dance. It's a ritual that I follow every night and every day. I witness the birth of architecture." A frantic dancer loops hypnotically between walls of a construction site. She dances in and around the Halle Pajol designed by Jourda Architectes and filmed by 11h45 (France 2012).

"My name is Tom and I live with my mum in a shared flat. And I share my living with Ann Jordan, Peter Sue, Jeanette Vargas, Tony Shafrazi, and Fanny Pinochet." A child feels safe having a community around him. Ann and her baby Tom live in The Rolling House for the Rolling Society designed by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation (Spain 2009).

"I've been asked to get to Barnsley to deliver a few old letters. And I am impressed at what the future holds for us there! I never thought I would have found such a beautiful environment and high quality of life." A postman crosses the countryside to deliver some old letters, in a future where only digital communication exists. He is the postman in the future city of Barnsley conceived by aLL Design and filmed by Squint/Opera (“Post Barnsley”, United Kingdom 2003).

"Nobody knows me here, Sir. And I regret I don't even know much about the ladies and gentlemen around me, at this unusual party. We are kind of glued here, and visitors just raise many questions." A waiter takes a break chatting with a girl. He serves at the Casa de La Cultura designed by Daniel Mòdol and filmed by Jordi Bernadó and 15-L. Films ("Hello, Ms. Hock", Spain 2012).

"No, I'm not running away from this stadium. I'm just passing by and watching the inside of the building from the outside. At every soccer game this building becomes a truly lively public space." A runner performs his daily training. He goes jogging near the Lasesarre Football Stadium designed by Eduardo Arroyo (NO.MAD) and filmed by Simone Muscolino and Francesco Monaco ("YELLOW FEVER [Lasesarre Football Stadium]", Spain 2005).

"I can hardly see this as a marketplace. It looks like a contemporary art museum, though I'm no expert in arts. But these dynamic white spaces are comfortable and they make me feel at home. At home in the public space." A citizen reflects on his habitual places. He usually goes to the "Abrantes Municipal Market" designed by ARX Portugal and filmed by Building Pictures (Portugal 2016).

"My role is to constantly question this strange environment. Yet, I don't fully understand what it's made for. A building for an Automotive Intelligence Center would definitely require women, no doubt about it. Follow me for a visit." A young researcher moves through the building, measuring and exploring space. She works at the Automotive Intelligence Center designed by ACXT and filmed by Luis Urculo ("AIC - Automotive Intelligence Center", Spain 2010).


A POPULATION OF HUNDREDS OF FIGURES like these emerges and stands in front of us. In a kind of limbo, these people play a fiction and generate a context. Sometimes they help explain the architectural project, some other time they seem to question the spectator about it. They give a sense to it. Where architectural design expresses spatial conditions, economic opportunities, symbolic values and tends to define possible uses, people in architecture short films witness other possibilities and make the vision more true. Meeting these inhabitants, getting closer to their stories, observing their behaviors constantly generates new meanings.

If cinema stimulated new perspectives and encouraged new behaviors, perhaps also the possibility to share architecture videos can contribute to reconfiguring the relations between architects and projects, between projects and the public. We all live immersed in narrations that trigger new desires, new passions, new actions. The humanity we encounter in short films allows us to feel the projects closer to us. Spectators and actors finally meet. These beings, only apparently stolen from other realities, in the end are just us.



Fictional Humanism. A critical reportage

Davide Rapp

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.


A population of hundreds of figures emerges and stands in front of us. In a kind of limbo, these people play a fiction and generate a context. Sometimes they help explain the architectural project, some other time they seem to question the spectator about it. They give a sense to it. Where architectural design expresses spatial conditions, economic opportunities, symbolic values and tends to define possible uses, people in architecture short films witness other possibilities and make the vision more true. Meeting these inhabitants, getting closer to their stories, observing their behaviors constantly generates new meanings.

If cinema stimulated new perspectives and encouraged new behaviors, perhaps also the possibility to share architecture videos can contribute to reconfiguring the relations between architects and projects, between projects and the public. We all live immersed in narrations that trigger new desires, new passions, new actions. The humanity we encounter in short films allows us to feel the projects closer to us. Spectators and actors finally meet. These beings, only apparently stolen from other realities, in the end are just us.

The video "Fictional Humanism. A critical reportage" has been part of the installation curated by Davide Rapp e Marco Brizzi within "Are We Human?", the 2016 Istanbul Design Biennale curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley.

Credits

Architects: Eduardo Souto de Moura, Superstudio, Miguel de Guzman, Jourda Architectes, Andrés Jaque/Office for Political Innovation, aLL Design, Daniel Mòdol, Eduardo Arroyo (NO.MAD), ARX Portugal, ACXT
A project by: Davide Rapp, Marco Brizzi
In collaboration with: Paola Giaconia, Paola Ricco, Giorgio Zangrandi
Soundtrack: Sanmi

Italy 2016
Duration: 16'22''