Marienbad Residency Program

Brownfields, Marianske Lazne, République Tchèque.

Public Space Lab, Marienbad Film Festival, P.E.R.F.O.R.M! - Dimitri Szuter & Laurence Falzon.

https://publicspacelab.cz/

Historique du partenariat :

We want to work with the PublicSpaceLab - transdisciplinary platform under Marienbad Film z.s. - because we have an ongoing collaboration that we want to pursue. Originally, the organization invited Dimitri Szuter in Prague in June 2023 to participate in the Brownfieldy conference in Kladno and to contribute in writing the golden text of their new scientific journal called Situace. This first issue was dedicated to the thematic of “brownfields” and the problematic of “borders and borderlands”. In addition to that, we did an interview regarding the topic of “temporary use” that will be included in the
architectural magazine ERA21 on that specific topic, set to be out in press in June 2024. During this 4 days meeting trip, we also traveled to Marianske Lazne, an historic thermal city near the German border. Zuzana Stejskalová who is currently in charge of the Marianske Lazne UNESCO site, gave Dimitri a tour of the city regarding the problematic of obsolete buildings and infrastructures that the city counts. Zuzana is really engaged in the revitalization of the city through its existing assets : the historical landscapes, buildings and infrastructures stock that constitute an amazing heritage and potential for the regeneration of the city. She also launched the Marienbad Film Festival which was dedicated this year to the topic of regeneration. Since this private tour, we were thinking of developing an artistic residency in Marianske Lazne to develop a project towards these objectives of regeneration. Culture Moves Europe seemed to us a very relevant opportunity for it. We are very delighted to have the opportunity to deepen our collaboration and do something together. In this residency project, the Public Space Lab will help us to access the various buildings, places and people, and we will be hosted in an abandoned villa at the core of the city.

In the quest of « Performative Urbanism » we believe performativity can unfold new practices to initiate creative urban regeneration processes. Using performance based protocols in early stages of a project can help to reveal hidden affordances of abandoned or unprogrammed places, enabling us to
sketch out conceptual leads for their appropriation and transformation. In the framework of the transfigurations.org - a project and a digital platform to design, experiment and share performative "scores" for collaborative and creative urban regeneration processes - we expect to develop a series of
performative interventions in a set of obsolete buildings and in a major brownfield at the core of the city to awaken hidden affordances. A film will be realized in addition to “prospective scores” that could help conducting progressive regeneration processes. In the process of the residency, we will engage the members of the PSL - under Marienbad film z.s. and the population in Marianske Lazne.

We perceive this residency program as the first step of a larger process to be developed in Marianske Lazne regarding the regeneration of multiple brownfields. Affordances, imaginaries and “prospective scores” that would be developed during the residency could open strategies and processes to engage
temporary use projects within the city. This is our medium and long term vision for the project and the first outcomes of the residency will be helpful for the Public Space Lab team and especially to assist and guide Zuzana Stejskalová in her beautiful struggle for the revitalization of the city. By doing so, we expect to increase our partnership and continue our collaborations regarding potential projects locally but also in France and the Czech Republic more openly.

Financement programme Culture Moves Europe - Goethe Institute.

The mobility will help us to connect more and to explore an ongoing project in collaboration. We believe that the format of an intensive residency will be the best condition to deepen our partnership by doing something together. We will be hosted all together in an abandoned villa that is about to be re-open as a temporary occupation by the Public Space Lab collective. The fact that we will
collectively inhabit the topic of regeneration by the political act of transforming an existing obsolete building as our camp base to orchestrate the whole residency seems to us really relevant for the project. It’s a first act of regeneration and the villa will become a place open to the public to expose the
Druckdatum 31.05.2024 / Dimitri Szuter result of the residency and open renewed relationships with the various actors and population towards the objectives of the project.

2025 (à venir)