1. – 14. Oktober
João Gonçalo Lopes is an architect working across disciplines between art, design and education. Having worked in renowned architectural offices in different parts of the globe, he is currently working with a hands-on approach on scales that go from urban design, to art installations or furniture design.
As a founding member of Colectivo Til he has been developing exploratory processes and interventions with different communities, that question the notions of mediation, power and participation in the public realm.
With a context based attitude, his work is rooted in collaboration, focusing on the ecology of materials as means to achieve conscious and interconnected realities.
His practice investigates spaces and objects as mediators of multidimensional relations, be it social, political, emotional, artistic or material.
Gonçalo will be working on site from 1 - 14 October.
"The notion of “landscape” has always contained a complex amalgam of meanings. In a sense it could be defined as something that we will never be able to fully grasp, something that is beyond our human scale both in time and spatial dimension, a mix of desire and fascination with fear and destruction, that will bring us to the unknown levels of existence.
At the same time, maybe for the same reason, landscape has always been a target of appropriation by humans, domesticating, politicizing, privatizing and incorporating it into the spectacle of consumerism.
I want to look at Lake Traunsee imagining the ancestral ways in which humans have related with natural landscapes, where architecture, objects and garments, are means of survival, measure and comprehension of that which goes beyond our limits. Objects as extensions of our bodies and senses, invitations to experience beyond the surface of images and reach a little further.
Using materials that already exist on the site as my toolbox, I want to question the potential of the lake as a collective asset for public use, enjoyment and interaction. I want to ask what “tools” have signified the relation with the natural landscape so far, and how can we give them new meanings? How to engage the community in matters of environment and coexistence with non-human beings? How can fear keep coming together with fascination, enjoyment and risk-taking?
In my humble position as a short-term participant, my approach will be to become a gleaner of ideas and materials, understanding the spatial relations on site, through walks, conversations with locals and observation of the shifting dynamics of the landscape. The found materials will each reveal opportunities to think with my hands, creating not by adding anything new, but by reframing or repurposing what might have been there all along."
!!!Achtung: Präsentation am 13.Oktober wetterbedingt abgesagt!
IG: www.instagram.com/joaogoncalolopes
We would like to thank our cooperation partners!