haunted landscapes
in collaboration with Polly Bruchlos
The master's thesis Haunted Landscapes traces the correlation of architectural practice and education with the (in)visibility and displacement of marginalised habitats and questions which systems are thereby supported, maintained and reproduced. From oil- drilling in the Ecuadorian rainforest, the extermination of insect populations on an unprecedented scale, to the inaccessibility to housing due to the abolition of the anti- discrimination law in the Berlin housing market:
What responsibilities do we - as architects and spatial practitioners - assume towards these precarious conditions to which we have become used to? What does it mean for the practice of architecture to question its fundamental narrative of growth, extractivism and progress? Can an active engagement with decolonial theories and practices help us understand these realities as a series of discontinuities and trace their interconnectedness?
Watch the film or scroll down to the research.
The master's thesis Haunted Landscapes traces the correlation of architectural practice and education with the (in)visibility and displacement of marginalised habitats and questions which systems are thereby supported, maintained and reproduced. From oil- drilling in the Ecuadorian rainforest, the extermination of insect populations on an unprecedented scale, to the inaccessibility to housing due to the abolition of the anti- discrimination law in the Berlin housing market:
What responsibilities do we - as architects and spatial practitioners - assume towards these precarious conditions to which we have become used to? What does it mean for the practice of architecture to question its fundamental narrative of growth, extractivism and progress? Can an active engagement with decolonial theories and practices help us understand these realities as a series of discontinuities and trace their interconnectedness?
Watch the film or scroll down to the research.
Based on an animated film of an almost real scenario of Berlin in 30 years, "Haunted Landscapes" plays with the
tensions between utopia and dystopia, fiction and
reality, frustration and hope, and searches for possible
futures within spaces built on violence. The work thus
spins a space between scenography, narrative and
theory to question the responsibility of all of us as
space-producing beings towards our pasts and
futures.
What do everyday practices that question human-centred planning processes have to do with the current housing struggles
What do everyday practices that question human-centred planning processes have to do with the current housing struggles
against the processes of displacement at Hermannplatz? To what extent do neighbourhood walks in Berlin and a sewing class at Mehringplatz play a crucial role in these struggles?
The film fictionally weaves together five stories of contamination, entanglement and recomposting. Stories that tell of assemblages between human and non-human beings, technologies and the fissures of the city. They are everyday narratives without individual protagonists, without suspense and heroic endings, and instead stories about care, responsibility and self-empowerment. In this way, Haunted Landscapes questions progress-oriented approaches to the future and proposes a future that is possible because it is already here.
film-essay, research haunted landscapes
Jasmine Parsley describes the practice of foraging in urban settings as a way to bring people and feral ecology together and to reflect the heterogeneity of the urban landscape. Gathering as a collective practice breaks down the dichotomy between nature and culture and asks us to question the existing food system. It allows us to identify edible herbs and foods, learn about local flavors, and get in touch with the changing seasons and what they have to offer. By actively participating in the production of our food, we leave the passive role of consumer. Foraging is a collective practice: walking, searching, collecting, regrouping, seeing, and learning how to prepare or cook the plants we find.
Initiative Hermannplatz
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The Hermannplatz Initiative was founded in 2019 in response to the Hermannplatz project presented by Signa. Signa Holding GmbH plans to rebuild the existing Karstadt building in collaboration with David Chipperfield Architects. The civil society-organized initiative seeks to make the social and economic consequences of the project visible and addresses residents and users of the public square in various formats. On a weekly basis, the initiative occupies the sidewalk in front of the department store in order to be present and visible and to offer information accessible to everyone. The work of initiatives such as Initiative Hermannplatz, in collaboration with an important network of self-organized associations, brings up urgent discourses and perspectives that have been ignored until now by providing information and clarifying the complex web of public-private relationships.
The Hermannplatz Initiative was founded in 2019 in response to the Hermannplatz project presented by Signa. Signa Holding GmbH plans to rebuild the existing Karstadt building in collaboration with David Chipperfield Architects. The civil society-organized initiative seeks to make the social and economic consequences of the project visible and addresses residents and users of the public square in various formats. On a weekly basis, the initiative occupies the sidewalk in front of the department store in order to be present and visible and to offer information accessible to everyone. The work of initiatives such as Initiative Hermannplatz, in collaboration with an important network of self-organized associations, brings up urgent discourses and perspectives that have been ignored until now by providing information and clarifying the complex web of public-private relationships.
Who owns the city? Who lives on public green spaces and who decides what happens there? The Organism Democracy on the green plot at the Osloer Str. 107/108 has been dealing with questions of the agency of non-human beings since 2019. The Club Real Collective describes organism democracy as a political system in which the power relation of all living beings are equaly negotiated. From this strategy a parliament that meets every half year takes place and debates performatively on decisions about future modifications of the plot. Similar attempts to understand nature outside of pure environmental protection can be found in the constitutional reforms of Ecuador and Bolivia (2008 and 2009), in which The Rights of Nature - "The Rights of Pachamama" (engl. Mother Earth), are legally established.
Sewing course at Mehringplatz
Najwa Koussa
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Najwa Koussa
Najwa Koussa offers a sewing class for neighborhood women every Wednesday morning at the Kiezstube on Mehringplatz in Berlin. In addition to her knowledge as a trained seamstress, she creates a space for everyday questions, which is also continued digitally. The course has become a weekly meeting place for the participants that goes beyond the mere function of the sewing course. The stigmatized neighborhood of Mehringplatz is a witness to the spatial disadvantage of certain groups in the city, which is further supported by tight housing conditions.
Neighbourhood walks
Kiezversammlung 44
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KV44's neighbourhood walks visit places of displacement and resistance in Neukölln. These are places where people have come together to resist the violence of the capitalist housing market. In a common walk through the city, the often invisible traces of the housing struggle are highlighted, especially the networks that have emerged in the process and often still exist.
Kiezversammlung 44
KV44's neighbourhood walks visit places of displacement and resistance in Neukölln. These are places where people have come together to resist the violence of the capitalist housing market. In a common walk through the city, the often invisible traces of the housing struggle are highlighted, especially the networks that have emerged in the process and often still exist.