Ben van Berkel & the Theatre of Immanence :: Opening: November 24, 2007; 8:00 pm :: until January 13, 2008 :: Portikus, Alte Brücke 2 Maininsel, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Ben van Berkel & the Theatre of Immanence is a combined art and architectural exhibition wherein the different parts in the exhibition are synthesised into a complete whole. The exhibition stages a theatre or space of communication: communication between the visitors and the exhibited works, between the virtual and the real. Throughout its period, the architectural installation will serve as a hub for various events including lectures, art performances, hosted talks with invited guests, and DJ-sessions.

The architectural installation, entitled The Thing, is designed by Städelschule professor for architecture Ben van Berkel together with professor Johan Bettum and Luis Etchegorry. The Frankfurt-based design-groups MESO Web Scapes and MESO Digital Interiors have developed a projection work that elaborates on the installation by dynamically embellishing it with moving images and thereby activating its surfaces. The projection work, On Things Off Things On, is a case study in augmented architecture. It is an attempt to create a reactive surface of extraordinary spatial complexity.

The installation, The Thing, consists of an upper and a lower level. The upper level serves as a form of theatre and the lower level as a more traditional exhibition space. The two levels are separated by a volumetric surface which is perforated by open holes. These holes serve to connect the two areas visually and audibly. On the lower level, the exhibition presents a group of works by artists and architects who have participated in the one-year long experimental project, entitled the Space of Communication, a project by the Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC).

The exhibiting participants in this project are the architects Asterios Agkathidis, Brennan Buck & Igor Kebel, Holger Hoffmann, Jonas Runberger, Gabi Schillig and the artists Florencia Colombo and Dani Gal.

Background

The exhibition Ben van Berkel & the Theatre of Immanence marks the end of the one-year long exploratory project the Space of Communication which consisted of a group of international artists and architects investigating various aspects of the contemporary conditions for social interaction and communication. The exhibition aims to present the artistic and architectural results of this project to the public.

While some of the projects inherently engage with new electronic technology, some take it for granted and others merely reflect upon it in a distant fashion. Common to all the projects is that they address the social and inter-relational aspects of communication or spaces of communication. In this manner the projects insist on the relevance of art and architecture to which new technology can only add but not change the basic missions or functions.

Needless to say, the emergence and current ubiquity of electronic media have had a revolutionary influence on the nature of spaces of communication. Even today, the electronic and digital technologies continue to change the conditions in which we relate and communicate with one another. These facts underlie much of the project existence and it has been developed with a keen interest in the many relevant historical and contemporary achievements within the arts and architecture.

The investigations in the Space of Communication have been undertaken in an ongoing discussion conducted through a series of seminars, Internet-exchanges and in project development efforts. The investigations have been guided by a series of invited specialists, first and foremost professor and architectural theorist, Sanford Kwinter (Rice University, Houston), and artist and professor Peter Hagdahl (Royal Academy of Arts, Stockholm).

Bringing Architecture to Life

Ben van Berkel & the Theatre of Immanence presents an advanced shape projection design on architecture. This coincides with a general, increasing interest in projection on architecture. MESO Digital Interiors installation On Things Off Things On activates the structural surface of the installation. In this manner, it is also a very ambitious case study in augmented architecture, an attempt to create a reactive surface of extraordinary spatial complexity. The built structure inside the Portikus is illuminated by multiple precisely matched digital projections that both enhance and obscure the physical objects, adding information and disinformation, atmosphere and detail, playing on topics of presence, absence, body, and volume.

The installation will also be accessible via interactive live-feeds.
Journal 3 is the last of three Internet-journals that are published by the project group behind the Space of Communication. This quality is enhanced by the many events that are planned during the exhibition period. Some of these will be more conventional lectures and talks, but others will bring their own projected reality to the upper level of the theatre, turning the gallery into a performance space. Some events will fuse sound with images. In this manner, the liveliness and life-like qualities of the exhibition is emphasized.