in one room and a half - másfél szoba összkomfort

opening october 29, 2003, 7 pm sound performance by Heribert Friedl (A)

on view october 30, 2003 - november 29, 2003 monday - friday, 1 pm - 6 pm, saturday, 10 am - 2 pm

guided tours october 30, 2 pm - 6 pm; november 13, 2 pm - 6 pm november 29, 10 am - 2 pm

discursive salon november 13, 2003, 6 pm Sándor Mészáros (literary critic, HU) Stefan Pluess (designer, CH) Ricarda Denzer (video artist, A) Séra Ildikó (in_between, HU/A) Thomas Dimov (in_between, CH/A)

catalogue A catalogue is being published to accompany the exhibition with texts in english, hungarian and german including comprehensive documentation of all the exhibits. The catalogue will be available electronically at the exhibition in the kArton gallery and on the internet. A printed version will be published at the end of the exhibition including the summary of the discursive salon and a mini-cd of “step silence”, the original sound installation by Heribert Friedl. Approx. 24 pages, 50 full-colour images, paperback. Please order Your copy now: inbetween@gmx.at

concept, organisation in_between : architecture Ildikó Séra, Thomas Dimov

information kArton gallery and museum, Alkotmány u. 18, 1054 Budapest phone: +36 1 472 00 00, fax: +36 1 472 00 01 e-mail: info@karton.hu, internet: www.karton.hu in_between : architecture phone: +43 1 990 41 04, fax: +43 1 990 41 25 e-mail: inbetween@gmx.at, internet: www.inbetween.at

partners National Cultural Fund of Hungary (NKA) Pro Helvetia Budapest Austrian Cultural Forum

sponsor Lakatos Vince transport company

in one room and a half a multimedia installation

the stage

The space inhabited by the kArton gallery in Budapest has experienced an interesting, almost grotesque process of subsequent transformation in the past: Originally, the generously built main staircase of the house lead to the appartments above. After World War II the staircase was almost completely demolished and replaced by appartments. The space at the first floor level became the house keeper's studio and later on the kArton gallery. Nowadays the visitor of the gallery expects to enter a large staircase, which turns out to be an exhibition space.

the play

“In one room and a half” is conceived as an invitation to meditate on such transformation processes, on the floating identities of spaces and on their multiple layers of meaning. Focussing on the memory and on the utopic potential of a place (“genius loci”) may be seen hence as a basic research for an alternative conception of design processes.

the actors

A series of audiovisual spaces invite the visitor to a playful journey to the “strange” world of spaces and their inhabitants. International samples of contemporary furniture design, experimental video, fragments of literature and a sound installation designed especially for this project reflect the rituals of appropriation of space and the enhancement of pure physical space into imaginative space.

the scripts

1. The staircase script. (time) Act 1: The ambiguous identity of a space (the staircase) shifts to privacy (the studio) through radical physical transformation. Act 2: The public sphere (the gallery) emerges again trough subversive appropriation (the appartment being adapted and used as an exhibition space).

2. The appartment script. The former studio of the housekeeper, Brodsky' s appartment in St. Petersburg and the actual gallery-apartment converge into the ideal “One room and a half” for the contemporary urban nomad.

the city

In his autobiographical essay “In a room and a half” nobel prize winner Joseph Brodsky describes his childhood apartment in St. Petersburg as a physical and intellectual microcosm under the conditions of a totalitarian system: “If there is an infinite aspect to space, it is not its expansion but its reduction. If only because the reduction of space, oddly enough, is always more coherent. It’s better structured and has more names: a cell, a closet, a grave. Expanses have only a broad gesture.” With “In one room and a half” we strived for a microcosm able to animate the reflection on the transformations of the contemporary city.

Concept and organisation: in_between : architecture Ildikó Séra, Thomas Dimov October 2003

in one room and a half a multimedia installation

list of the exhibits

1 “chevalier” night valet with shoes trees design: Jérôme Lart, production: industrielle (F)

2 “foto” steel thread design: Jérôme Lart, production: industrielle (F)

3 felted slippers design and manufacturing: Hedwig Puintner (I)

4 “lineapunto” wooden box system design: Stefan Pluess (CH), Production: Invalida (CH)

5 “ad” stool Design: Mathias Berke (A), Production: GEA (A)

6 stool Design and manufacturing: Luisa Wammes (A)

7 “the rockable” stool Design: Hans Sandgren Jakobsen (DK), Prod.: Werner (DK)

8 “glüp” seat Design: Sophie Larger, production: ligne roset (F)

9 “Tür 14” (“door 14”) video, 14 min. Ricarda Denzer (A)

10 “step silence” sound installation, 20 min. (looped) Heribert Friedl (A)

11 “Spannbett” bed Design: Stefan Pluess (CH), Production: Invalida (CH)

12 futon (traditional japanese mattress) Thomas Dimov (CH/A)

13 “Nomad” wardrobe (packed and mounted version) Design and Prod.: Möbelmanufaktur Heinz Baumann (CH)

14 “fotofix” photography in_between : architecture

15 “castillo” sofa Design: Michael Schluder & Sergej Nikoljsky (A), Production: Franz Wittmann Möbelwerkstätten (A)

16 “shell” (“kagyló”) wardrobe Design: Ubald Klug (CH), Production: Röthlisberger (CH)

17 “„the valley of fairies” tapistry with excerpts from the book „Tündérvölgy“ by Endre Kukorelly, Design: in_between : architecture (A)

18 “kloc” carpet Design: Kristian Gavoille (F), Production: ligne roset (F)

19 “tango” video, 8 min. Zbigniew Rybczinsky (P/USA)

20 “the drowning room” video, 10 min. Reynold Reynolds (USA), Patrick Jolley (IRL)

21 “infinite space” curved adhesive tape with excerpts from the essay „In a room and a half“ by Joseph Brodsky (USSR/USA) Design: in_between : architecture (A)

22 “stencil” paravent (prototype) Design: Barber Osgerby (DK), Production: Cappellini (I)

in one room and a half a multimedia installation

biography

in_between : architecture was founded in 2002 in Vienna. The members are Thomas Dimov, Ildikó Séra and Constanze Weiser. in_between is currently working in the fields of architecture, urban planning, photography and exhibition design.

Ildikó Séra, Dipl. Ing. born 14.11. 1972 in Miskolc, Hungary 1991-01 architectural studies at the Vienna Polytechnic

2000-01 diploma at the University of Portsmouth, UK “Zwischenstadt” (the inbetween-city), peripheral urbanisation problems case study on Thurrock (Essex, UK)

2000 “Photo 2000” exhibition of photography, Portsmouth, UK

1996- freelance collaboration in architecture offices in Austria and Germany, architecture competitions

2002 “Kitsch”, exhibition of photography, Slovenian Cultural Association, Vienna

2001- member of the Dutch Chamber of Architects

2001- articles for the art magazine “Balkon” and the architecture magazine “Oktogon”, Budapest

2002- member of “IG Architektur”, urban planning research group, Vienna

Thomas Dimov, Dipl. Arch. ETH Zürich born 2. Mai 1966 in Basel, CH 1988-1996 architectural studies at the Zürich Polytechnic (ETH),

1994 “KraftWerkSommer 94 – International Week” (organisation of an international workshop on urban planning issues)

1997 postgraduate studies at the institute for building ecology SIB, Zürich

1999-2000 curator and director at the architecture institute vorarlberg, Dornbirn, A

2000 participation in “dis-positiv – on the productivity of art and discourse” Bregenz, A

2001 collaboration in the organisation of the Jewish Filmweek Vienna

2000-02 freelance collaboration in architecture offices in Vienna

2002- independent architect und curator in Vienna, architecture competitions, book projects and articles in architecture magazines and in newspapers