anti mnimosynou

αντί μνημοσύνου / instead of a memorial [01/40]

Το βιβλίο του Θεόδωρου Κ. Ορδουμποζάνη, Η Αλεξανδρούπολη των Εικαστικών παρουσιάζει, μεταξύ αξιόλογων δημιουργών, καλλιτεχνών και αρχιτεκτόνων, τον αρχιτέκτονα Γιώργο Τολούδη, 1946-2018 (αφιέρωμα στις σελίδες 152-154) μέσω ενός αντιπροσωπευτικού του έργου,  το κτίριο του Ναυταθλητικού Ομίλου Αλεξανδρούπολης Ν.Ο.Α. που βρίοκεται στο λιμάνι της Αλεξανδρούπολης. Το σχεδίασε το 1969 και αναγέρθηκε μεταξύ 1969-1971.  Γράφει ο Ορδουμποζάνης: "Ακόμη και μέχρι σήμερα το κτίριο αυτό δεσπόζει μέσα στο λιμάνι της πόλης και αποτελεί σημείο αναφοράς (τοπόσημο) για τους επισκέπτες της πόλης." Πέραν από την προσωπική ματιά και αξία που έχει αυτό το έργο για μένα και την οικογένεια μου υπάρχουν μερικές ιδέες που το διέπουν που δύσκολα τις αρνείται κανείς. Αναφέρω ενδεικτικά:

Το κτίριο έχει καθαρές γραμμές που εναρμονίζονται με τις καθαρές γραμμές του τοπίου της Αλεξανδρούπολης (μεγάλος ορίζοντας, ανοιχτός ουρανός, χαμηλή δόμηση σε σχετικά επίπεδο έδαφος) αναδεικνύοντας την ταυτότητα της πόλης μέσω αυτού του έργου. Η λέξη "δεσπόζει" (από τον συγγραφέα) είναι πραγματικά ταιριαστή εδώ, όχι μόνο λόγω της μοναδικότητας του ως κτίριο στο φαρδύ λιμάνι, αλλά λόγω της ευφυέστατης επιλογής του αρχιτέκτονα για μία φόρμα λιτή σε γραμμές, πλούσια σε υλικά, χώρο, και φως δε. Ευφυέστατη (επιλογή) γιατί παρόλο που το έργο φέρνει τις γραμμές του φανκτιοναλισμού, θα το έλεγε κανείς "κλασσικό," διαχρονικό. Το έργο είναι καθαρός εκφραστής των ιδεών του μοντερνισμού, της λειτουργικότητας, και του απέριττου (που τόσο πίστευε ο Γιώργος Τολούδης) και πρεσβευτής μιας στιβαρής κατασκευής από τοπικά υλικά και τοπικές μεθόδους κατασκευής (λαξευμένη πέτρα και λιθοδομή που βρίσκεται σε αρκετά από τα παλιά κτίρια της περιοχής). Δεν είχα την τύχη μέχρι στιγμής να απολαύσω το εσωτερικό του κτιρίου, να θαυμάσω το ελληνικό (και θρακικό) φως μέσω των μεγάλων ανοιγμάτων, τζαμαριών (πολλοί Αλεξανδρουπολίτες το κατάφεραν λόγω της επαφής τους με τον σύλλογο ή πίνοντας καφέ τις Κυριακές), αλλά σίγουρα απήλαυσα την γενναιόδωρη του ταράτσα που δίκαια έγινε στέκι εξόδου τα τελευταία χρόνια, δεκαετίες, στην πόλη. 

Οι γραμμές του κτιρίου, πέρα από το πως εναρμονίζονται με την πόλη,  έχουν έναν χωρικό διάλογο και με το ίδιο το λιμάνι. Οι οριζόντιες γραμμές εναρμονίζονται με τα πεζούλια κατάβασης στις βάρκες και σκάφη (δεξιά φωτογραφία σελ. 152, χώρος που χρησιμοποιείται και κατά τα Θεοφάνεια) και τα κατακόρυφα πέτρινα τοιχεία μαζί με τα τεντωμένα πανιά που διασχίζουν τον ουρανό καθώς πλέουν, σπάζουν ευχάριστα την μονοτονία του οριζόντιου, και του ανοιχτού ουρανού και τοπίου.

Δύσκολα να παραβλέψει κανείς τις όμορφες λεπτομέρειες αυτού του κτιρίου. Τα κουφώματα στις τζαμαρίες έχουν ρυθμό σα να είναι βγαλμένα από κλασσικό ναό. 

Το "κλασσικό" απλό πλακάκι στην βάση οργανώνει τον υπαίθριο του χώρα χωρίς κάγκελα, φράχτες, σηματοδοτήσεις, αλλά και φωτίζει την πέτρα. Το ίδιο πλακάκι φαίνεται να έχει και στην ταράτσα. Η προστασία στην ταράτσα με τοιχάκι πρόεκταση του κάτω τοίχου σε συνδυασμό με μία μόνο βέργα άρεζε πάντα στον αρχιτέκτονα ως μία ευκαιρεία να εκφράσει το απέριττο (φωτογραφία πάνω αριστερά στην σελίδα 153). Εδώ να σημειωθεί ότι ποτέ δεν άρεσαν στον Γιώργο Τολούδη τα πολύπλοκα "κάγκελα" αλλά σεβάστηκε προς τιμήν του τις επιθυμίες των πελατών για τις ονειρικές τους κατοικίες. Το γείσο διακριτικό, τα γράμματα επάνω στην πέτρα απλά και καθαρά. Το άσπρο χρώμα του τοίχου σε τέλεια αντίθεση με την ώχρα πέτρα (από τα αγαπημένα του πρόσωπα).

Αναρωτιέμαι πως ένιωθε όταν στην περιοχή γύρω από το κτίριο αυτό, δούλευε/"τελείωνε" το σκάφος του λίγο πριν το βαφτήσει στο νερό; Θυμάμαι αυτή την περίοδο, αλλά και μέσω των πρώτων φωτογραφιών του "Μαρία."Αυτή η άνεση να οικειοποιηθείς προσωρινά έναν χώρο, που τυχαίνει να είναι (δίπλα σε) ένα από τα πρώτα σου έργα (ως φοιτητής) μήπως είναι η δύναμη του μικρού μέρους (της Αλεξανδρούπολης εδώ) που δίνει την δυνατότητα στον δημιουργό να ξεπεράσει τα εμπόδια και τις δυσκολίες αλλά και τον ίδιο του τον εαυτό και να παράξει έργο; Είναι μία απορία και προς τον Θ.Ορδουμποζάνη, πως η Αλεξανδρούπολη, μία μικρή πόλη, καταφέρνει να έχει τόσους δημιουργούς σαν αυτούς που παρουσιάζει στο βιβλίο του;

Πάντως δεν είναι υπερβολή η σκέψη ότι οι ιδέες που έχει κανείς ως φοιτητής της Αρχιτεκτονικής ή ως νέος είναι πολύ καθοριστικές για το έργο του. Σκέφτομαι τον αρχιτέκτονα Moshe Safdie που υλοποίησε την διπλωματική, το Habitat 67, στο Μοντρεάλ του Καναδά. Είναι η καθαρότητα του μυαλού χωρίς τις επαγγελματικές και οικογενειακές υποχρεώσεις και σκοτούρες, το ασυμβίβαστο της νεότητας; Ο Γιώργος Τολούδης "φύση ανήσυχο πνεύμα" (κατά τον Ορδουμποζάνη αλλά όχι μόνο) διατήρησε αυτή την δύναμη της νεότητας μέχρι τέλους - δύσκολα να διαψευστώ από όσους τον γνώριζαν.

Self-portrait of my father

Lately it has been all about production. “But do you have time to think?” he would ask me. George Toloudis, an architect, engineer, inventor, and a true artist (in talent, in heart, in mind, in exaggeration), would only need few items to think and create.

A table, a pencil, and paper (plain A4s, but other ones too such as leftover sheets from voting). And Greek cigarettes.

“Why (do you wish to make this project)?”

“What is an idea? An idea [for a project] cannot not be as abstract as in liberté -égalité -fraternité.”

”A man can do anything, even pass through a wall, if he wants.”

On materials and techniques...”The realization of an idea is interdependent to the economy.”

During the school years, it was these late evenings in the office, learning physics, testing new markers, drawing, making a school assignment. During the Aristotle years it was again late evenings, staying awake, drawing with ink, making compositions, models, resolving floor plans, talking about Zaha Hadid, making kinetic maquettes, finishing artifacts for exhibits, everything. During the IIT years it was all about the details, making it real, packages with hinges, minimal structures, endless Skype sessions, chit chat about Japanese & Indian friends, Ben Nicholson, Jackie Koo, Jeanne Gang and Martin, nonstop design, architecture with capital A.

Γεώργιος Τολούδης 07.04.1947-12.23.2018

During the Harvard years it was about making Picanico, asking so many Why, learning from Spiro, Kwinter, regular all-nighters, Skype support for dissertation, all kinds of support. During Dartmouth years it has been about constructing the magic, mr.Takis, real materials, big packages, Greece, Greeks, what would you teach?...

To be continued.

January 3, 2020

The Realism of Utopia

The Realism of Utopia

Ioanna Zymariti

Zenovia Toloudi, architect and visual artist, envisions the city of the future as a museum of Mediterranean plant species, a seed bank where citizens will be sharing the goods equally.

Zenovia Toloudi founded Studio Z in 2000, an Architectural and Art Research Office, whose art installations have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT and the Byzantine Museum of Athens. "I am interested in creating an architecture detached from the concept of a private customer. I'm looking for ways to implement architectural ideas that I feel are necessary for a better lifestyle." We met her at the "Tomorrows" exhibition shortly before returning to America, where she works as Assistant Professor of Architecture at Dartmouth University, and she revealed to BHmagazino the world of her installation Silo(e)scapes.

"My interest in the relationship between food and architecture stems from my research, through creative work and teaching on the ephemeral and the temporal in architecture, but also on the subject of metabolism in buildings and structures. There is a great deal of interest in the relationship between architecture and nutrition systems that has not yet been analysed adequately. Digestion takes place in our body, and waste disposal takes place via a building's infrastructure. Similarly, water supply is provided via hydraulic systems. Today, as the future of food systems is changing rapidly (eg pill-based food, insects consumption, meat consumption, GMO, agricultural/organic, etc.), Architecture must incorporate this change."

"I am concerned about the role that Architecture can play in major issues of the humankind such as democracy, social inequality and other. This particular work, Silo(e)scapes, which is presented for the first time, addresses the issue of food inequality, one of the principal global issues, through an evolution of typology of architecture in the future, which also borrows data from the past. It is a typology of buildings that promotes collectivism and a sharing economy through housing accomodation. Similar actions and organizations exist isolated in various locations on the planet, but this artwork enhances them with a physical manifestation; it promotes them by proposing a particular Architecture, which is communal. The work sees the Seed Bank as a library of the future. Silo(e)scapes in other words, envisions the creation of a new building typology, which is a hybrid between a Seed Bank and a Museum of plant species, owned by citizens, who share valuable goods on equal terms."

"Beyond addressing the equitable management of valuable goods, the project also underlines the disappearance of biodiversity due to natural disasters, but also due to controls, standardizations and private interests. At the same time, it proposes maintaining biodiversity as well as autonomy. Not only does it provide through architecture a physical manifestation of the issue of biodiversity, but it also exposes and venerates it through the creation of seed-silos. The work borrows many elements from the architecture of the window (which overwhelmingly exists within commercial architecture), whose transparency has been historically associated with democracy (transparency in processes/procedures) and control (through technology)."

"In general, a number of creators predict increased technology dependency in the future. There is a need to envision methods of resistance and ways to stop our association with it. More generally, I'm interested in the possibilities that arise from the connection of technology, art, and architecture, but not by means of the latest gadgets. Considering the etymological connection among the notions techne/τέχνες (art), τίκτω (build), and αρτιότητα (completeness), I try to implement projects by offering a proposition on a given moment, with a critical look - with Art being used to question rather than beautify or impress."

"In Silo(e)scapes, viewers are watching the futuristic microcosm through a panopticon structure that extends to infinity. It is a "wearable" room, a portal between reality and imagination (not by means of a technological tool): Viewers enter with their head into an opening to observe the endangered species, the Bank/Museum and the sharing economy of Lilliputian residents. The seed columns of the infinite space, the kaleidoscope of mirrors and agrarian sounds create a perception of space, which is neither real nor an imitation. The kaleidoscopic experience of Silo(e)scapes functions as an escape machine, but also as a deceptive mechanism that transports viewers into a parallel, threatening, and seductive universe in which they need to act upon in order to obtain a positive environment. The theatrical and voyeuristic experience in Silo(e)scapes awakens memories, and creates a process that empowers viewers to disrupt the sequence of events instigating the disappearance of such species."

"I support the issue but with a strong dose of optimism, which I consider to be an integral part of architecture. I am interested in the realism hidden by utopia. The differences between realistic and unrealistic visions are not easily measured. But Kisho Kurokawa portrayed this delicate difference by comparing the approach of the Japanese Metabolists to that of the British post-war, avant-garde Archigram. According to Kurokawa, while Archigram is disappointed by reality and is trying to visualize the future as something with more potential, Japanese Metabolism tries to imagine reality by planting seeds of the future on Earth as it is today. I am especially interested in how such a vision is linked to a particular identity through integration of historical and cultural elements."

“The seeds, as well as the way by which one enters the structure, symbolize the need for something new to sprout, but not necessarily homogeneous. Biodiversity is very important, and so is diversity. They are basic elements of this collective society. The seed-columns, seed-silos symbolize the foundation of a sharing society. The column in Architecture is of great importance, and Architects have invented multiple reincarnations of it. I wanted the installation to have this simplicity, perhaps Doric-ity, but above all a public character of similar structures, such as the architecture of the stoa, or the ancient temple with its columns. This multiplicity of columns, based on a single small element, re-establishes social space and Architecture. Antoine Picon had examined the role of such an element, that of the independent column, in the religious architecture of the eighteenth century. According to Picon, this architectural mechanism, acting as (cultural) mixture of dissimilar objects, offers heterogeneity and allows social imagination.”

“From the Greek Culture I would maintain the Ingenuity, the Spirit of Freedom, the Critical Vision, and the Pride. Correspondingly, from the American Culture, I would maintain the Spirit of Cooperation, the Efficiency, the Positive Attitude, the Civic Participation, and the Volunteering. In Architecture, from the Greek reality I would keep the relationship of the building with landscape and locality, the public space structures, elements of informal urbanization, and the existence of the small architectural office. From the American reality, I would maintain the decision making processes about architecture, and the system of production and construction that offers an architect a more respected role in the process.”

"I am interested in creating an architecture without the concept of a private customer. That's why I create these installations. I'm looking for ways to implement architectural ideas that I feel are essential to the society aiming at a better lifestyle. Creation of such works cannot take place without intervention by those who believe in my ideas and work, and contributed to their implementation with ingenious construction solutions. It is of great importance that such people come from a small town, such as Alexandroupolis. And their action and contribution has been reaching not only Athens, Greece, and Boston, MA, but also a quaint Hanover, New Hampshire. I refer to my collaboration with the workshop of Panagiotis (Takis) Stamboulidis, which was initiated by the personal bond between my father, Georgios Toloudis and the workshop owner, Mr. Takis. Implementation of ‘bottom-up’ visions through solidarity, faith, and contribution of such people is a key element of an ideal society."

The above text is an English translation from my interview by Ioanna Zymariti on Silo(e)scapes, that took place during May 2017, in Athens, Greece

midnight laboratory

Midnight laboratory testing of prototypes for upcoming installation Silo(e)scapes wearable room

optotopia experiments

 

optotopia I model

Optotopia I: Polyphymes’ Eye model, Zenovia Toloudi & George Toloudis

blanket in progress

Blanket model in progress for metamaquette exhibition photo by gtroza @Takis shop, Alexandroupolis, Greece

fixing...

[gtroza] fixing my mom's glasses

...my mom's...

[gtroza] fixing my mom's glasses

...glasses

[gtroza] fixing my mom's glasses

upcoming installation

archival frigid city

gtroza + bee-zee @ Frigid City, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2004
A photo sent to Bee-Zee by Evangelos Kotsioris
More info about the project @ Studio Z [link]

PHOTODOTES: the making of

PHOTODOTES: the making of from Zenovia Toloudi on Vimeo.

photodotes: collect - transfer - diffuse

PHOTODOTES

PHOTODOTES, a ‘machinic’ installation, explores the manipulation of natural and artificial light in space, architectured to perform in 3 stages: collecting, transferring and emitting light. The experimentation discusses phenomena related to lack of light, like the lack of vitamin D, depression, women’s cycle patterns irregularities, and work separation from exterior conditions. By augmenting the individual and collective perceptual mechanism, PHOTODOTES emphasizes how light’s relation to energy and the survival leads to well-being of people.

*PHOTODOTES is the plural form of the greek: φωτοδότης = giver of light, luminary

Project credits:
Design: Zenovia Toloudi
Research: Zenovia Toloudi, Ute Meta Bauer (MIT Art, Culture, and Technology), George Toloudis
Construction: Zenovia Toloudi, George Toloudis, Panagiotis Stamboulidis @ Stamboulidis Panagiotis Workshop in Alexandroupolis, Greece
Gallery Installation: Zenovia Toloudi, Dominic Tschoepe, Dimitris Papanikolaou
Special thanks to: Maria Toloudi, Yannis Stratakis, Theodoros Koukos, Marrikka Trotter, Jonathan Santos, Evelyn Rytz

a dream came true

being part of MIT has been a desire since long time ago. the cube at MIT was love at first sight. the last 4 years the cube was loaded with many interesting educational and personal moments. now i am happy to have my office in there as a research affiliate at art, culture, and technology!

PICANICO demo

PICANICO demo from Zenovia Toloudi on Vimeo.

PICANICO at HARVARD GSD

Bring your laptop + play with PICANICO for half an hour and contribute to architectural classification your own taste! During this event light food will be served. Participants may win a gift through lottery. The experiment is part of Zenovia Toloudi’s dissertation supervised by Spiro N. Pollalis, Sanford Kwinter and Kostas Terzidis. Do try this at home at PICANICO [dot] ORG

MONDAY JAN 31 | 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM | 123 | GSD | HARVARD

PICANICO intro page

PICANICO new layout