Mathieu Wellner, our friend and interviewer of mono.kultur #22, will give an introduction to  Ai Weiwei’s work as an architect in Graz tonight. Don’t miss it!

Although Ai Weiwei had already successfully realized more than 60 different building projects, three years ago, he and his team Fake Design decided to take on no further commissions. They had come to find the process of official authorization and the waste of creative energy invested in unrealized projects to be too frustrating and disappointing. They have sometimes made an exception, but then they decided to accompany the undertaking in a different way – to curate it.
And indeed: As a showcase for democracy and diversity, architecture can also encourage debate. Especially in China.

6pm: commented walk through the exhibition Ai Weiwei with Mathieu Wellner, Kunsthaus Graz, meeting point in the lobby. The exhibition is open from 5-7pm with free admission.
7pm: lecture, Haus der Architektur Graz

Archizines in  Milan
27 January – 23 February 2012

SpazioFMG
Via Bergognone 27
Milan

Aeroflot throws its iconic Berlin signage out with the trash

One of the last hammer and sickle emblems in Berlin has disappeared from its prominent place in the centre of the city.

The hammer and sickle – the symbol of communism and the Soviet Union – was removed from most public buildings across the former East Berlin after the fall of the Wall. Yet it remained on display in one very visible location – above the Berlin ticket office of the Russian airline Aeroflot on the busy central boulevard Unter den Linden.

Aeroflot’s logo still contains the hammer and sickle, a remainder from its time as the state airline of the USSR. The carrier continues to run regular services between Berlin and Moscow, and it kept a ticket office open in the heart of the city in a building that is part of the Russian Embassy complex.

It was here that the logo was proudly displayed at street level, just one block from the iconic Brandenburg Gate, which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.

Several weeks ago Aeroflot closed its Unter den Linden office. The signage – illuminated blue plastic and metal lettering – was dismantled. Today all that remains are the ghosted outlines of the removed signage, and a note on the door informing visitors that the office has ceased operations. Aeroflot’s German office said the old sign and lettering had been thrown away as rubbish.

The hammer and sickle hasn’t made a full retreat, however. It can still be seen in the stonework of the façade of the main building of the Russian Embassy, next door to the old Aeroflot office.

That example of the symbol isn’t as prominent as the former Aeroflot sign. Its removal marks another erasure of the visual memory of Berlin’s divided era.   - Joel Alas

Archizines
05 November 2011 – 14 December 2011

Architectural Association School of Architecture
36 Bedford Square
London WC1B 3ES
UK

In 2010 they created The Jellyfish Theatre in London, made of materials from all sources: junked theatre sets, reclaimed timber from building sites, Covent Garden market pallets and old kitchen units.

Another project in 2010 was called Cars into Bicycles which took place in Los Angeles. Over the time of three month they transformed a Saab Turbo 900 into two functional bicycles.

This Friday 30 September 2011 a group show titled Mobilisieren! (Mobilise!) will open in Nordhorn, a small German town on the Dutch border. They’re famous for their outstanding bicycle politics and the Koebberling/Kaltwasser contribution is called Fahrradbahnkreuz, a sculpture about mobility and perception.

Tate Modern has announced the opening in 2012 of the first phase of its expansion plan, The Tate Modern Project. In 2005, Herzog & de Meuron were commissioned by the Tate to design a new development which would connect Southwark with the Thames and provide much improved open, public space. As part of this development, a new building would be added at the south of the existing gallery, significantly increasing the exhibition space and creating better facilities for the gallery’s learning programmes. The first phase of this development includes the opening of the former power station’s spectacular subterranean Oil Tanks – enormous circular spaces over thirty metres across and seven metres high, which are at the heart of Herzog & de Meuron’s extension plans and are a point of departure for the new building.

Stadiums used to be built so that the audience on the stands could feel their numbers and feel the rush of emotions being felt by tens of thousands of people simultaneously. If you’ve never been in a full stadium like this it’s worth trying, you can’t compare it to anything. Big crowds can often be seen in films, probably because they work really well to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of a scene. Now if you think that signing up as an extra on a big film production and getting that great crowd feeling, you might get quite disappointed as a low tech method of crowding is used on more and more film sets. Santa Monica based The Inflatable Crew supplies lifelike blow-up dolls for films like The King’s Speech, Flags of Our Fathers and Contagion. A stadium scene for Flags of Our Fathers had 5,000 inflatables mixed with just 750 real people to provide a little natural motion. Must have been quite a lonely experience for these 750.

Hüttenpalast
Hobrechtstrasse 66
12047 Berlin

Photo: Jan Brockhaus / Hüttenpalast

Films are being shown on fridges, in London. Here’s why.