Finding Agora by Patrick Brady

Agora

FINDING

SPECIAL TOPICS STUDIO : AGORA / FALL 2013 WENTWORTH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EDITED BY : PATRICK BRADY

Agora

FINDING

Zenovia Toloudi Patrick Brady Matt Rowell Mike Remondi John Weed Caitlin Pandolph Travis Lombardi Tyler Moriarty Magda Borowy Kat Mendez Walter Arroyo Jr Derek Mueller Nick Dyer

Agora, with etymology linked to aggregation, and a history of being the birth of democracy as well as the center of political, artistic, and commercial life in ancient Greek contexts, acted as a place for people to come together. Finding Agora seeks to explore twelve MArch studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perspectives in response to their experiences in Athens while identifying a contemporary Agora.

Visit to the Greek Island of Aegina - Varotsos Residence / Photo by: Patrick Brady

Acknowledgments The Finding Agora team would like to thank and acknowledge the following Wentworth faculty members for their support and guidance along the way. Glenn Wiggins, Michael MacPhail, John Ellis, Jonanthan Foote, Rhonda Postrel, Alex Cabral, Carrie Yates We would also like to thank the following supporters, influences, and guests critics who helped make this possible. Rena Sakellaridou - SPARCH / Yannis Kitanis, Alexandros Vaitsos, Carlos Loperena -decaARCHITECTURE / Katerina Kotzia, Korina Filoxenidou - kkarchitects / Maria Toloudi / Katerina Kapernarakou - Kathimerini / Yannis Aesopos / Lasson Tsakonas - Oliaros / Andreas Angelidakis / Thanassis Manis DOMES / Dimitris thomopoulos / Stavros Martinos Styliani Daouti, Giorgos Mitroulias, Michael John Raftopoulos - Area / Konstantinos Pantazis, Marianna Rentzou - Point Supreme Architects / Costas Varotsos - Sculptor / Dimitris Papanikolaou, Andreas Nikolovgenis, Hara Gavra, Evangelos Kotsioris, Aaron Weinert, Elizabeth Ghizeline, Kim Poliquin, Ben Peterson, Nicholas Durant, Etien Santiago, James White - Guest Critics / Matt Racca, The Papadopoulos Family, Aaron Brady

Make Six Models / Photo by: John Weed

Contents 12 Architecture Missing In Action / Where is the Agora 17 To Make Public 19 The Relationship 21 Diversity in Massing : A Personalized Shelter in Public Space 23 The Individual & Collective: Flexibility in Public Space 25 Bridging Demographics 27 Architectural Parrhesia 29 The Light Beacon 31 From Poly-katoikia to Poly-platform; Sectional Expansion of the Pedestrian Layer 33 The Streets 35 RE-Imagining the Scar 37 Celebrating the Protest 39 A World of Spectators 40 Architecture as Activism

Peaceful protest in response to Greek Rapper, Pavlos Fyssasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s murder along Timoleontos Vassou / Photo by: Patrick Brady

Power stems from the people but belongs to nobody. Democracy abolishes the external referent of power and refers power to society. But democratic power cannot appeal for its authority to a meaning immanent in the social. Instead, the democratic invention invests something else: the public space.

- Rosalyn Deutsche, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Agoraphobiaâ&#x20AC;? | pg 273

Architecture Missing In Action ?

Zenovia Toloudi

According to Joi Ito’s “Caring Problem,” the recent interconnectedness of the world due to social media has resulted to an increasingly caring global audience for problems, catastrophes, and crises that in the past used to be one-country’s only concerns. At the same time, in specific crises, such as the current financial one in Southern Europe, or like the recent environmental one in Fukushima, global awareness is being raised not only due to empathy but also due to fear of crisis’ propagating/ domino effect. For both cases, either caring for the other, or caring for oneself, one can blame “globalization.” 1

emerging care for humanity’s problems requests from architecture to no longer be Missing in Action (MIA); Architecture has to engage with situations, and act.

Where is the Agora ? In his “Four arguments for the Elimination of Architecture (Long Live Architecture)” Sanford Kwinter, (when seeking for architecture’s professional evolution) claims “in a modern economy the city is not just where we are but who we are.” A similarity to this tautology (between city and people) can be also found in many writings for the Greek Agora , like that of Homer, and Herodotus. In these writings Agora, the city, and citizens are one thing. 2

In the architectural profession, globalization, is associated with (global) practices, of Metropolitan scale (eg. OMA), or Foreign approach (eg. FOA), expanding definitely with BIG intentions. For many years, since the increasing appearance of the global competitions (as a supposedly fair way to succeed) the entire system expected from nascent architects not to look low, humbly but high. The increasing Gehrizations, and Zahizations, that have been nurturing the ego (either of the architect, mayor, or community) demand resources that are no longer available. The schools of architecture are no exception: students are trained for the big job, the one to impress the most updated and distinguished colleagues, or they are encouraged to migrate to those places that currently produce many, fast architectural identities, soon to establish the new-star architecture. But, is the production of this star architecture relevant nowadays? Pedro Gadanho characterizes architecture as a “cannibalistic profession” in which young unpaid interns grow to either hate or replicate the system (a destroying OF architecture from within). He describes it as a system of its own, a system of consumption. Alternatively, he suggests an architecture, beyond the service profession, that embraces the political, and becomes more as a cultural field. Such criticism against expressive forms and beautiful identities, along with global citizens’ 1. Joi Ito, Global Voices Summit 2008 in Budapest, in JOI ITO, http:// joi.ito.com/weblog/2008/06/30/global-voices-s.html 12

The Agora was indeed the place where people would come together or act collectively in ancient times. Agora, with an etymology linked to aggregation/ gathering, and a history of being the birth of democracy as well as the center of political, artistic, and commercial life of the city, acted indeed as a place for people to come together or where they would act collectively. Can this archetype be reenacted or re-actualized to serve the public space of the new global city? Unlike Pericles’ ancient time, nowadays people come together in web domains such as Facebook, twitter, and other social media. Ubiquitous computing, surveillance, communication via digital technologies and gadgets, wireless infrastructures are new channels, that further increase connectivity 2. Sanford Kwinter, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Architecture (Long Live Architecture), in Bernard Tschumi and Irene Chang’s, The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century, The Monacelli Press, 2003, p.94-95 3. For Kwinter design can no longer be simply this ideal place of form-making. It has to be challenged and potentially shaped by these new social and historical demands…” In the same text he later demand: “[Architecture] must undergo an explosive and disfiguring transformation…otherwise, it can retreat to face the prospects of mediocrity, provincialism, event irrelevance…” 4. Many thanks to Krzysztof Wodiczko for inspiring this idea 5. Richard Ernest Wycjerley, The Agora, in How the Greeks Built Cities, W. W. Norton & Company, 1976

Ancient Brady

/ Photo by: Patrick

among people who, as Joi Ito said, now care more for the commons. How can intangible global connections (the new public domain), and the physical world with the living people (new city and its citizens) contribute to (new) public space? The (spatial) fluctuations among city, public space, and its people, request for new communication interfaces, new terrains for unpredictable activities where user becomes an active participant of the city. Can architecture provide these opportunities for responsive design, ephemeral interventions, and participatory events? Can these co-current events and collective experiences serve the commons, similarly to how Agora was successful through its multiple functions?

No return to the past is conceivable within the framework of democracy.

- Claude Lefore, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Human Rights and the Welfare Stateâ&#x20AC;?

Boy - Taken near the Acropolis Museum - Featured in Athensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Re-Map Gallery / Photo by: Patrick Brady

Installation piece representing the frustrations of design - Featured in Athenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Re-Map Gallery / Photo by: Patrick Brady

To Make Public

Patrick Brady

Attempting to resurface Agora in a contemporary context, while understanding conversation and its influence on space, provides the framework for a new form of public architecture. Its relevance in spatial politics employs an inherent quality parallel to interactive architecture. In “Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics,” renowned thinker Rosalyn Deusteche questions what it means for a space to be public. She realizes this question has provoked vigorous debates but ultimately, regardless of how we define it, public space is intimately connected with ideas about what it means to be human, about the nature of society, and finally, about the kind of political community we want. Though there are several contrasting perspectives on how each idea is addressed, everyone supports the survival and extension of democratic culture. When the term ‘public’ is applied to both architecture and art, it questions its integrated role with people and their participation. Public works not only allude to democracy as a form of government, but also to the general democratic spirit of egalitarianism: Do the works avoid elitism? And are they accessible? Jerry Allen, Art Administrator at San Jose, California, as cited by Deustche, queries the integrity of the term in its entirety, stating that public art and architecture is a contradiction in itself. The term joins two words whose meanings are antithetical. Art is recognized as the individual inquiry of sculptor or painter, the epitome of self-assertion, self-hood. With that we join public— a reference to the collective, self-negation, and otherwise democracy. This terminology seems to impose public upon private in a singular work that we expect both coherence and integrity from. In “Putting the Public in Public Art,” Allen again states that what is considered public art differs completely from art in public spaces. Artists’ inquiries, deposited into the public realm, are what most people identify as public, however, they are merely works placed into public spaces with no relevance to the true cultural context. Artist Alexander Calder’s Flamingo, placed into Federal Plaza, Chicago, is an example of 1

1. Deutsche, Rosalyn. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1996. Print. pg 256.

individual expression entering public space. Its spatial extremes cannot be contained between gallery walls, forcing its placement to an outdoor location. This work shares no connection to the public, who are ultimately the intended audience. Simply, it takes more than a public location to create public art. Successful methodology behind public art includes community involvement, some sense of collaboration between user, owner, and artist. Public art has the potential to translate the audiences’ language—apart from the voice of a singular artist. Deustch expresses public space as a term that can be both imagined and defined. However, the individual and their relevance within society may begin to question the approach taken towards designing public space. Similar to the selfexpression of an artist through their work, the use and experience of public space is varied between users on an intimate level, one dissonant from the collective. “Power stems from the people but belongs to nobody. Democracy abolishes the external referent of power and refers power to society. But democratic power cannot appeal for its authority to a meaning immanent in the social. Instead the democratic invention invests something else: the public space.” Architects are capable of designing spaces for the people, but the true experiences from these spaces are never constant nor controlled, but instead, subjective. Designing for the public realm means designing for the collective, ultimately yielding a work with a nullified response from users. Art and architecture should not at all be diluted to consider everyone’s perspectives in its design process, for there is never a singular, premeditated response. Instead, public art and architecture should consider providing a dedicated space or piece where the interaction and relationship that one shares with the work can develop, thus engaging them to voice a reaction. The critique, use, and understanding of spatial works are democratic qualities that offer insight for the creation of a contemporary form of Agora. 17

The Relationship

Matt Rowell

A public space is not a place at all, but a relationship. Physically constructed boundaries, however useful and comforting to the user, become redundant within this investigation. Instead, classification of space is determined by human interaction within a place and time. Since time is elastic, overlapping and continuously changing, then the characterization of space is not dependent on physical references but on the thoughts, ideas and liberties of all its inhabitants. A space can be declared public when complete freedom of creativity for all people is achieved. In order to sustain such freedom, the communication that takes place must remain reflexive of its context. It important for people to communicate their ideas, because there are no answers independent of time. The spaces we create to house ideas should allow people to interact, communicate and delegate ideas freely and continuously. The freedom to participate is a way of integrating people equally. Through active participation people will begin to interact more comfortably and in ways which were socially intimidating prior to intervention. Active participation encourages interaction and acts as a means to connect people that otherwise wouldn’t have been connected. The physical world that surrounds us gives little definition to public and private spaces. It is the manner in which we interact and communicate that creates the distinction. Constant Nieuwenhuis, a Dutch artist, author, and architect wrote a piece titled “New Babylon, A Nomadic Town.” The text focuses on architecture in an urban context in which environments are created by the activity of life, and not inversely. Neiuwenhuis states, “Sociologists extend this concept to the aggregate of social relations and ties that define man’s freedom of movement in society, and also, and above all, its limits. This symbolic interpretation of space is not one we share. For us, social space is truly the concrete space of meetings, of the contacts between beings. Spatiality is social. In New Babylon, social space is social spatiality. Space as a psychic dimension (abstract space) cannot be separated from the space of action (concrete space). Their divorce is only justified in a utilitarian society with arrested social relations, where concrete space

necessarily has an anti-social character.” In Athens, both the physical and psychological worlds are in a crisis. Tangible boundaries are durable, and deteriorate slowly, but the mental class systems are neither stable nor predictable. Emotions run high, and create new boundaries for space that are independent of the physical ruins. Independent reparations of the built environment will make a space look better, but do nothing to improve mental volatility. An intervention that addresses communication can evolve preconceptions of public space. Bringing people together on an equal level, at a small and temporal scale, will transcend perceptions of the mental realm of public space.

Today’s quality of life discourse is not universalist in the sense of proposing equality for all people. It is universalist in the sense of positing a human essence that encompasses all people in a single whole and in this way neutralizes their differences and erases concrete inequalities.

- Rosalyn Deustche,The Questions of “Public space.”

Diversity Through Massing: A Personalized Shelter in Public Space Michael Remondi The Agora is a network of information

waiting to be uncovered. Comprised of historic threads of information that are interwoven and intricately layered, the Agora was once the center of social, spiritual, and political life in Greece. Digging deeper than the venues and market spaces one sees today, its social hierarchy remains intact. Here you will see gathering spaces that are rich in diversity. A range of ages and races, hear a variety of languages, and witness several religious practices. In public spaces, diverse populations possess knowledge and influence their surroundings, making the area more interesting. Rosalyn Deutsche, from The Question of “Public Space,” elaborates on this influence: “Public space can also be defined as a set of institutions where citizens—and, given the unprecedented mixing of foreigners in today’s international cities, hopefully noncitizens—engage in debate; as the space where rights are declared, thereby limiting power; or as the space where social group identities and the identity of society are both constituted and questioned.” 1

Successful public spaces provide places of refuge from nature’s elements. By constructing an installation that relates to the history of its users, while providing a covering, the public will become a participatory element of the design, thus improving municipal unity. Inevitably, this makes the culture more successful. It is important to implement public works that relate to the community while providing spaces for individuals.

1Deutsche, Rosalyn. The Questions of “Public Space” pg. 3

The Individual & Collective: Flexibility in Public Space

Jake Weed

The Agora is not simply a place but rather a catalyst for social connection and interaction that brings together a multitude of functions. While serving as a theoretical container for diversity and interaction, the Agora, holds the potential to influence social behavior while dissolving social hierarchy. Public space in Athens and throughout the United States is plagued with a common misconception that a successful public space should be open and entirely flexible. The common modernist technique is to arrange public seating and points of gathering on the outskirts of a space looking in while the heart of many public environments remain vastly open and unused. This counterintuitive approach results in a barren and sterile environment that lacks a sense of gathering and community ownership amongst different people and social groups. The art curator and critic Hans Obrist conveyed this dilemma best in his article “Participation Lasts Forever” in which he states: “In our practice, the curator has to bridge gaps and build bridges between artists, public, institutions, and other types of communities. The crux of this work is building temporary communities, by connecting different people and practices, and creating the conditions for triggering sparks between them.” 1

A truly successful public space adapts to the needs of its user rather than forcing the user to compromise or adapt to the space. Through the implementation of an entirely participatory intervention that responds to the needs of its user, the public can begin to inhabit the heart of a public space.

1.Obrist, Hans U. “Preface: Participation Lasts Forever” Did Someone Say Participate? An Atlas of Spatial Practice, Edited by Markus Miessen and Shumon

Bridging Demographics

Caitlin Pandolph

The Agora is a space where people interact and share ideas from all demographics. Politicians, families, students, and the homeless can come together to share their ideas and perspectives. During my experiences in Athens I noticed there was a disconnect between the classes: the poor, homeless, working class, and the wealthy. It seemed that the underprivileged felt that demonstrations, whether protests in the street or actions taken by groups like Atenistas, were the only way their message could be heard by those with any power in the city. Atenistas has given up relying on the state to take action to help the underprivileged and working to maintain the city. Instead they have taken matters into their own hands saying, “We draw strength and energy from civil society, the thousands of defenseless Athenians who want to do something for the city and so far have not found a creative channel to participate in open cases of Athens.” After hearing this quote I began thinking back on the readings I had done before going to Athens. I thought about Constant Nieuwenhuis’s “New Babylon” and how he talks about the different functions of the city operating on different levels. However all the functions connect through these “trunks” that exist along points of the levels and allow them to work together. My idea was that these groups of people function on different levels in the city and that they need a point of common interaction to begin to work together in the city. 1

The goal of this instillation is to revitalize Square Santaroza. The square has a long history and the building that sits in the square reflects that history. However the building has been abandoned for several years now and the square is not maintained. It is overgrown, there is graffiti sprayed on the building and homeless people use it as a bathroom. I am proposing to install benches that move along tracks so people function on different levels in the city and that they need a point of common interaction to begin to work together in the city.

1. http://atenistas.org/poioi/ 2. Nieuwenhuis, Constant. New Babylon. Den Haag: n.p., 1974. Print.

The question, as such, is not even about the attainment or certain truth; rather, it is all about developing certain moral qualities to guarantee the access to truth.

- Michel Foucault

Architectural Parrhesia

Travis Lombardi

Parrhesia, a term developed in Ancient Greece, is one that holds great value to Greek history and tradition. Known as a definition for boldness, it is an obligation to speak the truth in public, even with personal risk at stake, for the common good. It represents a proud culture, one of democratic ideals that brings citizens together working towards a higher lifestyle. Public space in Athens was considered to be the birthplace of democracy, and in turn, a stage for acts of parrhesia. Agora, the primary public space of Ancient Greece, embodied this very important movement. It became a space for an assembly of people, gathering to debate on political issues, working towards appropriate solutions agreed upon by the whole. The space was immensely successful, providing the people with a place to be bold; to speak their mind free of worry about what may result. 1

The current state of Athens, however, lacks this relationship that Agora created. Public space is no longer democratic, and has become lost in its time. Modern public spaces fail to embody the idea Agora defined, and only attempt to express what it used to be. With a very established history and set of traditions, Athens prides itself on the preservation of the past, but is preservation what the present needs? Are the qualities of public space that were apparent in ancient Greece still relevant for the current situation?

Omonoia, and how its implementation can enhance its current desolated state. It is vital that public spaces remember what Agora accomplished and uphold its ideals, but crucial to understand its relationship with the direct context. Therefore, can we create an architectural parrhesia, form, and structure that embody the very qualities of a just society? This intervention would reveal the structure of its context yet provide functionality as purposeful space, creating a public realm expressive of truth and knowledge. It contains the potential to be bold, to break the constraints of typical public space, giving the confidence to embrace progress rather than impede upon it. Strong geometries create an environment that people want to engage, responding to the habits of the people, and working towards their needs. The intervention moves with the site, fragmenting for access and composing frames of important view or connection. Overall, it is a space that is conscious of place, time, and user. It balances the arrangement of functionality, informing space, not defining it. This now introduces a democratic realm truthful to the citizens, leaving them to determine their own relationship of truth, of boldness, and progress.

Let us take a look at Omonoia, a distinguished site within Athens with an important history. Known to be formed as a direct route for the king to reach the Acropolis, it became a focal point of the city. Its location connects several main streets as well as containing a large metro station, making its central axis an area of dense circulation. Throughout its evolution, this square has held a strong importance of movement and geometry. Its been designed as a circle, rectangle, hexagon, along with its current shape of a distorted square. The current design, however, impedes on this density of movement, creating disconnect between user and site. This intervention investigates what an architectural parrhesia can do for 1. Foucault, Michel. The Word Parrhesia. 2001 27

The Light Beacon

Tyler Moriarty

With the introduction of the economic crisis in Athens, public space has become dangerous at night. The city presents itself as unsafe for travelers commuting to and from their destinations. These spaces are constantly changing and can be viewed completely different at the same time. The Agora becomes a place that the user can call their own, where they feel safe, protected, and secure. Being able to feel safe again in public space at night is something that needs to be brought to attention. A guidance system may provide the answers to these issues allowing people to travel safely throughout Athens at night. Circulation routes can be established giving commuters a sense of familiarity as they travel. Nightlife is a key part of the lifestyle in Athens and in order to feel safe and protected there has to be something to show the way. In Athens there is always a reason to be out at night, with the large public spaces, the clubs, and bars that are open late, and the restaurants with hundreds of people just having a good time socializing. With the introduction of these light beacons, this will allow people to understand their surroundings when going through the city of Athens instead of walking without knowledge. Visiting Athens local residences instructed us to avoid places at night and stick together in groups. What happened if people had to walk though these unsafe environments on there own, not knowing what could happen to them at any moment? The public interacts with the system as they move through the space, lighting up a defined path. This allows the public to keep an eye on the environment, without the use of video surveillance systems. This light beacon gives the public a sense of safety that video surveillance cannot. The light beacon will be placed on the exterior of the buildings along the side and will be motion activated to engage the public directly.

From Poly-katoikia to Poly-platform; Sectional Expansion of the Pedestrian Layer

Magda Borowy

In art historian Philip Ursprung’s article, “From Observer to Participant,” Ursprung details his experience of visiting Olafur Eliasson’s studio/ experimental laboratory. Ursprung uses his own personal narrative to explain the design process at Eliasson’s studio. The studio culture is described as an “efficient machine,” in which all people present are constantly working to explore, and produce. Continuing to develop his machine analogy, Ursprung illustrates the staff as the machine that continuously experiments, and one that is not focused on the product as much as it is on the process. The product of this “studio machine” is described as “presence,” which Ursrpung defines; “I use “presence” in the sense of a communal presence of people, a bond forged in the here and now, and a situation in which all those present are engaged in what can best be described as ‘paying attention.’” Ursprung claims that there is a constant emphasis on the future and past which leaves people longing for this idea of being “present” and in the moment. He attributes the success and popularity of the studio’s designs to this very production of “presence.” The studio becomes an engaging place because there is not a focus on deadlines and clients but rather exploring methodologies. Ursprung uses Eliasson’s studio as the setting or “place” in which this idea of presence is produced, for this intervention in Athens, Sectional Expansion is proposing to create public spaces that allow the user to experience their “place,” and act as platforms where this presence is experienced. The urban fabric in the modern city of Athens is characterized by the Polykatoikia. This 5-6 story concrete apartment building houses the majority of Athens’ residents. The Polykatoikia organizes the city into a commercial level ground floor, leaving the 1

1. Philip Ursprung, From Observer To Participant: In Olafur Eliasson’s Studio. An Encyclopedia (Cologne: Taschen, 2008), 11. 2. Ibid

remainder of the floors dedicated to residential use. The traditional planned public spaces on the ground level (parks, playgrounds, public squares, ect.) in the city of Athens are mostly unrecognized by the public and are therefore becoming neglected. There is a need for a new type of public space in the dense residential neighborhoods that don’t have the space on the ground floor for large open areas. The street level provides the residents with a multi-use public space, including shops, cafes, and areas for socializing. Sectional Expansion proposes to expand the public ground level beyond the first floor into the currently residential zone in order to create a new type of public space. This reorganization of public space is designed to engage the public user and create a heightened sense of awareness. Increased awareness of self and place can help the public to see themselves and their surroundings in a new way. This new perspective can help to shape the use of public space.

RE-imaginging the Scar

Katherine Mendez

The economic crisis in Athens has greatly affected the development of both public and private spaces within the city. The lack of development of public spaces has hindered the identity of the Agora that Athens embodied. Without successful public space, there is no way for people to express, debate, and do freely in a healthy and constructive way. This inability to express leads to the destruction of the city through anger and violent protests and leaves scars within the city that have become hard to heal due to the severe crisis. The urban scar is very prominent within the Athenian urban fabric. The crisis has taken over the development of private spaces and constructions, which have evolved into these scars into the city; they have become the products of the wounds the crisis has brought. The scars are made up of different types of abandoned buildings, new constructions, parking lots, and alleyways, which provide prospective spaces for the development of successful public spaces; a kind of “place-making through ‘non-places’.” decaArchitecture stated that “in every crisis there is an opportunity.” Each of these scars remain as a reminder of the current situation, but through their development they serve as opportunities of what the future can hold. Urban Scar - Athens / Photo by : Patrick Brady

The Agora served as a network of programs that worked together to provide a public space of exchange, dialogue, and gathering. Similar to this idea that the Agora embodies, the scars will act as a network of public spaces to bring back the gathering and dialogue to multiple neighborhoods.

The streets are where the people go, so that becomes their public realm.

- Dimitris Papanikolaou

The Streets

Walter Arroyo Jr.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The streets are where the people go, so that becomes their public realm . . .â&#x20AC;? - Dimitris Papanikolaou Dimitris Papanikolaou, made this statement during the mid-review of our class, expressing that although the streets of Athens are not used as their design intended for they are not less successful than a public space used for their intended purpose. The crisis in Athens has affected the usage of public space, damaging its integrity while leaving people fearful. Economic issues have prevented the growth of Athens, leaving a dent on the communal perception of public space and its use. The public spaces are still populated by users but continue to lack a sense of security and safety.

Monastiraki / Photo by : Patrick Brady

Polykatoikias, a Greek standard for residential housing, make up the majority of the modern buildings in Athens. These buildings have created a community in each block that lacks an ability to communicate with others. Within these polykatoikias there is no recognizable public space. Instead there is an opportunity to address the ground floor primarily used for parking. This space could address the street level engaging the public in an otherwise private space. If a public space existed within these communities there would no longer be an invisible barrier that is created by polykatoikias. These communities need a space that will bring together the locals allowing them to communicate. Recognizing what the Agora once had provides incite towards creating public spaces where communities can once again feel safe.

Public space is a site of enactment. It belongs to no one, yet we all are a part of it and can bring meaning to it.

- Krzysztof Wodiczko

Celebrating the Protest

Derek Mueller

The Ancient Agora serves as a great precedent in looking into today’s urban public spaces. The Ancient Agora began to construct the ideas of gathering and assembling in a particular area in order to enjoy the community and actively participate in athletics, art, religion, or politics. The Ancient Agora of Athens has been noted as being the birthplace of democracy. Public spaces aim to develop the level of interaction amongst its inhabitants similarly to that of the Ancient Agora. Only by remembering the fundamental reasons why people gather is this achieved successfully.

Looking at the connection to parliament and the square, people naturally gravitate there in order to share their beliefs and opinions on issues impacting today’s society. This desire to have your voice heard will forever be a part of our lives and through this act of protest can our use of the Agora live on.

Looking at the current state of Athens, the impact of the economic crisis has reached many members of the city. This issue has become very influential in the everyday lives of many of the residents of Athens. In order for any action to be taken the people of Athens have to come together and protest for their beliefs, passions, and views to the government. This need for public celebration for a cause begins to modernize the single urban paradigm left by the Ancient Agora. Protest has become the new catalyst for the Agora. With practical public space becoming less and less populated the only hope for the Agora’s survival lies in the movement of protest. Protests bring together a community for a single driven purpose at an influential site in order to actively participate in a communal act. As Krzysztof Wodiczko states, “Public space is a site of enactment. It belongs to no one, yet we all are a part of it and can bring meaning to it”. Relating this back to Athens, one driven purpose could be the crisis, or, an anti-Golden Dawn movement, but while the messages to the movements change the site typically does not. Syntagma Square easily stands out as the home for these protests. 1

1. Phillips, Patricia C. “Creating Democracy: A Dialogue with Krzysztof Wodiczko,” Art Journal, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 32-47, 2003.

Public art initiates struggle, displaces boundaries and enlarges the contested space of politics. - Rosalyn Deutsche, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Question of Public Spaceâ&#x20AC;?

A World of Spectators

Nicholas Dyer Audience / Image from Jaques Rancière’s “The Emancipated Spectator.

Public space is not as simple as just open space for the public to use in a city. Public space is about a place of interaction, and that serves a purpose for the people using it. Rosalyn Deutsche compares public space to public art saying, "Public art initiates struggle, displaces boundaries and enlarges the contested space of politics." This idea translates to public space within the context of a city because in some ways, a designed public space is public art. If no one likes the space, then no one will use it and it becomes incredibly unsuccessful. Also, if everyone likes it, then it’s in danger of becoming something is used and not appreciated. To design a successful public space, it must take a risk. The piece needs to challenge the ideas of the public to spark a debate. To design a challenging piece within Athens, one must find a topic to challenge in order to spark a debate. This proposal has chosen to work within the neighborhoods of Athens to spark communal behavior within the network of the Polykatoikia. 1

these buildings that are unused and falling apart can become a space of performance for the citizens of Athens.

In order to generate behavior through an installation, the piece must be interactive. In his piece The Emancipated Spectator, author Jaques Rancière discusses what it means to be a spectator. He explores the idea that during a performance, although the audience seems to be static and docile, they are truly more active than the performers. The performers become mindless as they read through scripts line by line, or move to choreographed steps, while the spectator creates a world of imagination within their mind. The spectator becomes the most important part of a performance. Adapting this notion of the spectators role in performance, a public space becomes interactive for everyone involved. 2

Within Athens there are neighborhoods that have become run down and abandoned. Similar to Ancient Greece, some of this architecture has become a “new age” ruin. The installation means to take these areas and re-purpose them with respect to the past. Just like ruins of Greece have been repurposed into concert venues or tourist attractions, 1. Deutsche, Rosalyn. The Questions of “Public Space” 2. Rancière, Jaques. The Emancipated Spectator. 39

Architecture As Activism Zenovia Toloudi In 2011 , and after having completed the Performance Architecture Competition Pedro Gadanho observes the street’s integral role in protests (Greece/ South Africa), bookshops (Palais de Tokyo), and architecture (Bjarge Ingels/ Parkour) to eventually promote an architecture more linked to art as a critical legacy, as a transient, community-oriented urban action or social-guerilla practice. Recently, in Athens of crisis, where conflicts, instability, anxiety, lack of resources, and other practical and psychological problems are common ground, people also started to act. Beyond protesting against austerity meters and violence, like in the case of the million Indignants in the streets, citizens have been engaging themselves towards tactile urban interventions through group collectives, such as the creation of the autonomous Navarino Park and the series of events by Atenistas group including cleaning of areas, pocket parks creation, collection of food and other resources, among other humanitarian actions. 1

Action does not exist without re-action. One of the latest events by Atenistas, the painting of the long staircase at Marasli street in the wealthy Kolonaki neighborhood, raised a series of debates regarding appropriate “private” acts in the public space in terms of high versus low aesthetics, formal versus informal procedures, rich versus poor neighborhoods, and expert versus non-expert agents involved. The biggest concern was: Who has the right; how can one intervene in the public space; and where can this take place? 4

Costas Varotsos, well-known Greek artist with many public art projects in the world, opened Nikolas Giatromanolakis’ article “Crime to Kolonaki” to 5

1. Pedro Gadanho, Back to the Streets, in Domus, http://www. domusweb.it/en/op-ed/2011/09/21/back-to-the-streets-the-rise-ofperformance-architecture.html, Last modified September 21, 2011 2. Bruce Sterling, White Fungus in Beyond, issue No 1, Sun Publishers, 2009 3. Atenistas, http://atenistas.org, Last accessed: December 9, 2013 4. Efi Giannopoulou, Laos kai Kolonaki i ta Oria ton Atenistas, in Left.gr, http://left.gr/news/laos-kai-kolonaki-i-ta-oria-ton-atenistas, Last modified: November 18. 2013 5. Nicolas Giatromanolakis, Crime to Kolonaki, in Protagon.gr, http://www.protagon.gr/?i=protagon.el.ellada&id=29488, 11/22/13 40

discussion in social media. There was an exchange of more than 130 opinions between artists, friends, and fans. These include views such as decoration as crime, raw materials versus coating, color-phobia, aesthetics and function relations, permanent versus temporary forms, actions and reactions, and so on. Interestingly enough the experts, such as Varotsos, and artist Franco Summa, who showed an image of his own colorful staircase intervention, Un Arcobaleno in fondo alla via (1975) embraced positively the overall action by Atenistas. Specifically, Varotsos stated that public space is an extension of the private and everyone has the right to take part in its shaping while experts need to express cultural directions. 6

In these events, some of the participants are architects, or some kind of experts that coparticipate with the citizens to produce them. Can they potentially activate the crowd? Following the debates and the opinions, one wonders how can the architectural profession engage these actions in order to re-find its more social and meaningful role? It is not by accident that the provocative and innovative practice of Diller and Scofidio emerged during the 1970’s oil crisis, as a series of installations, stage designs, artistic performances to essentially form an ephemeral architecture. Daria Ricchi, in her New Work Stories essay, discussed their work, within a context of increasing urban crime and fear of violence and as part of a larger movement of artistic subculture events (theatrization of art, happenings, guerilla theater) that instigated people’s interaction and participation. Can the architect become the orchestrator that brings together the various agents and forces for these events (including happenings, events, actions, community participation) and ephemeral spaces to occur? Does one need permission, donation, sponsorship, or official funds to make them happen? 8

6. Costas Varotsos’s Wall, in Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ costas.varotsos.7?fref=ts, Last modified: December 5, 2013 7. Franco Summa, http://www.francosumma.it/Un-Arcobaleno-in-fondo-alla-via-1975, Last accessed: December 9, 2013 8. Daria Ricchi, New Work Stories, in Ciliary Function, page 13

Public Park Transformed by Athenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Community / Photo by: Patrick Brady

Gadanho, in his Bordering on the Illegal, welcomes those narratives in architecture and foresees a future of a more social profession where architect is a social critic and an activist. What are the new tools for this architect? What are the tectonics of the democratization and participation? Can the architect become hacker to intervene in public arena through their inventiveness and playfulness while altering social and political conditions? Can crisis eventually become the opportunity for such an activism to become architectural? 9

9. Pedro Gadanho, Bordering with the Illegal: The Performance Architecture of Didier Fiuza Faustino, in Huffingtonpost.com, http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/pedro-gadanho/bordering-on-the-illegal-_b_1325708.html, Last modified: March 7, 2012