Apolonija Sustersic and Meike Schalk
Apolonija Sustersic and Meike Schalk
Stockholm
Garden Service, 2007
This video was commissioned as part of Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab, on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from October 11, 2013 - Jan 5, 2014. Learn more at http://www.guggenheim.org/100urbantrends.
Bio:
Apolonija Šušteršič is an architect and visual artist and a Ph.D. candidate at University of Lund, Malmö Art Academy, Sweden. She has her own art/architecture studio practice in Amsterdam and in Ljubljana, Slovenia. As a former professor at the Royal University College of Fine Arts, she established a department of permanent transformation there: a mobile unit, or "parasite," that could be plugged into any institution that performs an educational function. Her work is related to a critical analysis of space, usually focused on the processes and relationships between institutions, cultural politics, urban planning, and architecture.
Šušteršič has participated in a number of international exhibitions, including presentations at the Generali Foundation, Vienna (2013); Artes Mundi 5, Cardiff, United Kingdom (2012); Venice Architecture Biennale (2010); Galerie für Zeitgenossische Kunst, Leipzig (2010); Edinburgh International Festival (2007); Muhka, Antwerp (2006); Tirana Biennale 3 (2005); Art Museum at the University of Memphis (2005); Moderna Galerija Ljubljana (2004); Berlin Biennale (2001); Bildmuseet, Umeå (2001); De Appel, Amsterdam (2000); Moderna Museet Stockholm (1999, 2000, 2010); Luxembourg City of Culture (1998), and Marian Goodman, Paris (1997).
Meike Schalk is an architect and assistant professor at the KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, working in critical studies and urban theory, and is responsible for the sustainable urban planning and design program. Shalk's practice is located between urban studies, architecture, and art in the public realm. Her projects involve the participation of individuals, communities, and institutions, and often take the form of common workshops and research. Currently, Shalk is pursuing the collaborative research project Feminist Eco Futures, which examines feminist projections in research, art, and architecture, and "lived" utopias as alternative architectural and social possibilities for the future.
Statement:
Garden Service (2007) addresses the peculiar situation of mixed public and private areas in the alleyways adjacent to the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Spaces such as Chessels Court are secluded from, yet also connected to, the great tourist destination. These areas are frequented not only by residents, but also by locals and tourists, who take a rest or have lunch on the public green off the main track.
Garden Service was the installation of a few very simple urban elements designed to encourage the use of the space. By installing stairs in the green space and providing picnic blankets, the artists encouraged and supported activities already present. The main focus was on the "observation platform." Once an institutional-looking green space of veronica bushes that was covered with concrete in the 1980s, this "bluff" had recently been identified as a potential garden site by residents. Through the workshop, it was transformed into a temporary garden. The new garden became a public expression of private care and shared benefit----public green spaces created and looked after by private garden lovers. The project is inspired by the life and work of Patrick Geddes, a former resident who planned and partly installed gardens in various alleys along the Royal Mile. One of them, belonging to a kindergarten, was located right behind Chessels Court.