Community based project 2013
Museu da Crise at Architecture Trienal of Lisbon 2013:
Close, Closer!
Museu da Crise was invited to participate in the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2013, as part of Associated Projects programme ‘But is it Architecture?’. The triennial examines, encourages and promotes architecture in the broadest sense, both in theory and in practice. ‘Close, Closer’, the third edition of the triennial, portrays architecture as a living, social and artistic force.
During the triennial Museu da Crise explored the potential of domestic strategies and parallel economies, which have a strong presence in contemporary society as counter movements, by expanding these strategies from the private, into the community sphere. Museu da Crise does this by implementing them into the existing visible and invisible infrastructures of the city and the urban environment. By doing so, Museu da Crise wants to liberate the basic human needs from the whims of the free market and make them freely accessible to all. Even in times of crisis.
Since the title Museu da Crise had proven to be a strong metaphor to engage people in the project and also to stimulate creativity, it was decided to strengthen and expand this by over a period of six weeks opening the five different departments of the Museu during the triennial.
The first department that opened was the Emerging Collection Department. The collection houses all artistic products that emanate from Museu da Crise activities. The Unofficial Education Department was next. Within this department the Museu develops activities to stimulate active citizenship and a series of interactive print and augmented reality interventions in public space and the triennial exhibitions was created and presented.
Recognising the importance of local roots to make a project as Museu da Crise sustainable and continuous, the Alternative Communication Department was established, mapping and inviting local initiatives to join the project and to spread the word within their respective communities.
To mark the opening of the Subversive Research Department, Museu da Crise organised the ‘UnConference’ Shifting Urban Paradigms that delved into topics such as urban resilience, sustainable construction, urban agriculture, ecological literacy, social economies and active citizenship.
The last department to be opened was the Parallel Action Department. During its presence in Lisbon for the triennial, Museu da Crise executed a series of artistic interventions in public space. The interventions vary from applying graffiti to putting up a clothesline on a busy traffic point. All these interventions were documented.
This documentation, together with some of the materials used to represent the different interventions, was presented on the closing event. Based on the documentation a book and film were created that were both presented during the closing week of the triennial.
The fiction of the book is set in Lisbon somewhere in an unidentified future. All sorts of scenarios about public uprisings and civil disobedience are played out. The film, a video essay, is the second part of the Museu da Crise film and continues where the first part made in Guimarães ended focussing on the status quo and the actions citizens can take to contribute to the process of the museumification of crisis.
The video
