“Vortex” – a space like a whirlwind from locally available materials.

We live in times of great turbulence. Movements that normally cannot be seen are now taking shape and happening unexpectedly. Things that appeared to be clear now become unclear. In the absence of external forces, friction within flows will self organize into a collection of so called irrotational vortices.

The Todays Art Festival in The Hague occurs in a critical moment in the political and cultural life of The Hague where multi-million-euro architectural projects are being approved alongside dramatic budget cuts to smaller cultural institutions. Following previous experiments, this contradiction led us to propose a structure for the festival entirely made out of discarded materials, a vortex structure expressing this idea of a natural force that sucks everything in its path. This space would serve as a meeting point/festival center on the Spuiplein, the major public square in the center of The Hague and heart of the festival.

Artist(s)

REFUNC is a laboratory for design based on the idea that everything can be used to create another thing. They create experimental structures based on local waste material flows. REFUNC (Denis Oudendijk, Jan Körbes, Damian van der Velde and Bart Groenewegen) provides a second life for found or thrown-away objects. They operate on the borders of architecture, art and design. The origin for designs are found in the object itself, by listening to its own composition, history, or local and social context. REFUNC needs a problem to play with, creative improvisation with locally available waste materials lead the way to our often unpredictable results. Wherever you can find garbage, REFUNC does research and workshops on creative recycling. Their motto: “the world without a manual”.

raumlaborberlin
yes we do love the great ideas of the 60s 70s and the optimism which is inherent in changing the world at the stroke of a pen to the better. but we strongly believe that complexity is real and good and our society today does need a more substantial approach. therefore our spacial proposals are small scale and deeply rooted in the local condition…. BYE BYE UTOPIA!

Presented at

TodaysArt Festival 2012 – The Hague, NL

More info

Artist website – Refunc

Artist website – Raumlabor