Special guest: Nikolaus Hirsch

Nikolaus Hirsch will give a talk on his latest projects with the artists Rirkrit Tiravanija and Kamin Lertchaiprasert among many others. Their project will initiate a new infrastructure at the land, a utopian project based on principles of artistic experimentation and alternative farming in northern Thailand.

DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY is an extension of the collaboration between artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Müller, and chef Antto Melasniemi. Designed by Hirsch and Müller as an outdoor shelter, the installation, made of modular bamboo and steel, welcomes visitors to engage in discussions while participating in the convivial atmosphere of shared food. A first prototype of the structure, its roof, was shown at Art Basel in June 2015. Titled "DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY", the installation hosted an experimental public workshop that reflects the idea of their studio residency in Thailand. A supplemental publication includes interviews, texts, images, and poems that illuminate the installation’s properties of self-sufficiency and how it was conceived as a new component of Tiravanija and Kamin Lertchaiprasert’s ongoing project “the land,” a self-sustaining artistic community near Chiang Mai, Thailand. After the festival, the structure was transported to Thailand in order to be the first building component of a new workshop on the land.

Nikolaus Hirsch is a Frankfurt-based architect and curator. He was the director of Staedelschule and Portikus Kunsthalle in Frankfurt (2010-2013) and previously taught at the Architectural Association in London. His architectural work includes the award-winning Dresden Synagogue (2001), Hinzert Document Center (2006), and experimental institutional models such as the Bockenheimer Depot Theater (with William Forsythe), Unitednationsplaza in Berlin (with Anton Vidokle), European Kunsthalle, and Cybermohalla Hub in Delhi (2008-12), Hirsch curated 'Cultural Agencies' (Istanbul, 2009/10), numerous exhibitions at the Portikus, the Folly project for the Gwangju Biennale in Korea (2013), and the exhibition ‚Wohnungsfrage/Housing Question' at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Hirsch is the co-editor of the Critical Spatial Practice series at Sternberg Press.

Photo: Armin Linke