Arcitecture of Appropriation: ICAM19
Paper Presentation of "Constructing institutional memory: on the inclusion of non-author-based, precarious, and criminalized spatial practices in the archive." by Marina Otero Verzier and Katía Truijen as part of the session Transnational collections research at ICAM19, September 11, 2018 in Copenhagen.
11 September 2018 12:00 - 12:00
The project discusses new approaches to the research, archive and representation of precarious, non-author-based, and often criminalized spatial practices in the institutional framework of an architecture archive and museum. Taking as a departure point the case of _Architecture of Appropriation_ - a collective research that Het Nieuwe Instituut is conducting into squatting as an architectural practice - we will examine the role that archives have in the construction of the history of the city and its inhabitants.
The squatting movement has played a major role in the design of the urban fabric and the domestic interior, and proposed alternatives to the dominant, market-oriented housing policies. By bringing together the expertise of the squatter movement with that of architects, archivists, scholars, lawyers, and policy makers from different countries, and by comparing methodologies and case studies, the project examines the role of museums and archives as social and political agents. Yet it also unveils the forms of control and consumption, and the changing conditions for inclusion and exclusion, that this position facilitates.
Architecture of Appropriation forms the basis for a new acquisition policy for the State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning. The initiative aims to open up a discussion on the inclusion of these spatial practices in the histories of architecture and their operating platforms, while acknowledging the fragility of the communities involved as well as the need to carefully limit the processes of institutional appropriation.
Panel discussion
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Mirko Zardini (Director, CCA), Monika Platzer (Curator, AZW), Rebecca Bailey (Curator, HES) and moderated by Christoph Grafe (Professor of Architectural History and Theory at the University of Wuppertal).
More information on the ICAM 19 conference in Copenhagen, from 9 - 13 September 2018