During May and June artists will realise individual projects, while the festival program in October will, through a series of discursive, presentational and performative units open a public discussion about the specific aspects of themes as well as the works produced.
We want to direct attention both to the skyscrapers built before the 1990s which have greatly defined city urbanism and the way in which citizens perceive and use the city, and which have today in large part lost their public character, as well as the skyscrapers built in the last ten years that are, as previously mentioned, a result of the capitulation of urban planning and political and legal support to large capital. The paradigmatic example of the former group is the Ilica skyscraper, which, aside from losing all of its architectural and artistic values of modernism in the renovation conducted without regard for any instructions and opinions of the profession, no longer offers the public a possibility of a view from the vista on the 16th floor. Even though the space was open for a long period of time to the public, the restaurant that operated on the top floor, according to the already new and implemented projects and logic of private investment, was open only to selected guests, and after its closure the space is completely inaccessible. It is unacceptable that private interests deny the public access to what is inalienably theirs – cultural heritage, memory, space, a view… An equally bad example of such a relationship towards public space and property is the Hoto Tower project built in 2004 in Savska, which, with its private access ramp, takes away from the pedestrian space. Moreover, whilst in the process of being built, the Hoto Tower requested additional permission to increase its original construction plan by almost half of the planned storeys, through which it exceeded its allowed construction space several times over. Like most Zagreb skyscrapers, the Hoto Tower also has a roof terrace, although it is intended solely for exclusive events like banquets or elite parties.

APOTHEOSIS OF THE SKYSCRAPER by Srećko Horvat. Essay on tower and skyscrapers building as a symptomatic indication of the state of our society. First published in Oris, magazine for architecture and culture, nr. 31, 2005, 16-31. An extended version published in Znakovi postmodernog grada. Semiologija urbanizma / Signs of the Postmodern City. Semiotics of Urbanism, Naklada Jesenski i Turk, Zagreb, 2007.

Green Action, Frankopanska 1, the bicycle repair shop

Dear friends of UrbanFestival,

We invite you to a presentation of video/audio works and video documentation from last year’s UrbanFestival which thematically dealt with surveillance and social control in public space.

The program includes:

UrbanFestival X, Ivan Slipčević

Power Tower, Verica Kovačevska

Wake up! Upper Town, Grupa 4

Marking,  Siniša Labrović

Musical railing, Davor Sanvincenti

Watching is not enough, Nives Sertić i Sonja Pregrad

The charming Master of Ceremony will be Siniša Labrović, and after the projections a social gathering with drink and music will follow in the bicycle repair shop at the Green Action space who, for this occassion have reformed the ARCHIsquad – the guerrilla team for socially engaged architecture. This is a fantastic opportunity for creating a habit of coming because this marks the beginning of the series of events in the Green Action space in Frankopanska 1 organised by BLOK.
We look forward to seeing you,

Yours, [BLOK]

Zelena akcija, Frankopanska 1, biciklopopravljaona

Dragi prijatelji UrbanFestivala,

Pozivamo vas na prezentaciju video/audio-radova i video dokumentacije s prošlogodišnjeg UrbanFestivala koji se tematski bavio fenomenima nadzora i socijalne kontrole u javnom prostoru.

Na programu su:

UrbanFestival X, Ivan Slipčević

Power Tower, Verica Kovačevska

Wake up! Gornji grade, Grupa 4

Obilježavanje,  Siniša Labrović

Muzički rukohvat, Davor Sanvincenti

Gledati nije dovoljno, Nives Sertić i Sonja Pregrad

Šarmantni domaćin večeri bit će Siniša Labrović, a nakon projekcija slijedi druženje uz piće i muziku u prostoru biciklopopravljaone u Zelenoj akciji koju su, za ovu prigodu, preoblikovali ARCHIsquad – gerilski tim za angažiranu arhitekturu. Ovo je odlična prilika za stvaranje navike dolaska jer ovime započinje serija događanja koje BLOK organizira u prostorijama Zelene akcije u Frankopanskoj 1.

Veselimo se Vašem dolasku!

Vaš [BLOK]

UrbanFestival 11 fokusirat će se (polu) javne prostore na margini javnog interesa, kao i na problematiziranje rasta grada u visinu kao procesa koji može, i trebao bi, generirati nove javne prostore, ali je redovito oruđe korporacijskog i privatnog kapitala za zaposjedanje grada, generirajući ekskluzivne prostore namijenjene komercijalnim ili marketinškim sadržajima, a zatvorene za širu javnost.

Tijekom svibnja i lipnja umjetnici će realizirati pojedine projekte, dok će festivalski program u listopadu kroz niz diskurzivnih, prezentacijskih i izvedebenih jedinica otvoriti u javnosti diskusiju o specifičnim aspektima teme kao i o produciranim radovima.

Želimo skrenuti pozornost kako na nebodere izgrađene prije 1990-ih koji su uvelike obilježili gradski urbanizam i način na koji građani percipiraju i koriste grad, a koji su danas dobrim dijelom izgubili svoj javni karakter, tako i na nebodere izgrađene u posljednjih desetak godina koji su upravo rezultat spomenute kapitulacije urbanizma i političko-pravne podrške krupnom kapitalu. Paradigmatski je primjer prve skupine Ilički neboder koji, osim što je u renovaciji izvedenoj mimo svih uputa i mišljenja struke izgubio sve arhitektonske i umjetničke vrijednosti modernizma, ne nudi više javnosti mogućnost pogleda s vidikovca na 16-tom katu. Iako je prostor dugi niz godina bio otvoren za javnost, prema novim već realiziranim projektima i logici privatnih ulaganja, restoran koji je poslovao na zadnjem katu bio je otvoren samo za odabrane goste, a nakon njegova zatvaranja prostor je potpuno nedostupan. Nedopustivo je da privatni interesi priječe javnosti pristup onome što im neotuđivo pripada – kulturno nasljeđe, memorija, prostor, pogled… Ništa bolji odnos prema javnom prostoru i javnom dobru ne pokazuje ni projekt Hoto Tower izgrađen 2004. u Savskoj koji svojom pristupnom, privatnom rampom oduzima pješačku površinu. Uz to, Hoto Tower je u procesu izgradnje naknadno zatražio dozvolu da prvotni plan izgradnje poveća za gotovo polovicu planiranih etaža, čime je višestruko prekoračena dopuštena izgradnja parcele. Kao i većina zagrebačkih nebodera i Hoto Tower ima krovnu terasu, međutim ona je namijenjena isključivo ekskluzivnom tipu događanja poput domjenaka ili elitnih zabava.

Ovdje možete preuzeti izbor iz članaka prikupljenih tijekom istraživanja UF tima i suradnice Irene Borić, a niže se nalazi arhiv u nastajanju s preporukama za daljnje čitanje i istraživanje.

Slika arhitekture u umjetnosti nakon 11. semptembra – Irfan Hošić

Ulica grada Vukovara u Zagrebu – izgradnja poslovnih tornjeva – tekst i foto-arhiv Danijele Pandža, zajedno s Petrom Srbljinović autorice istraživačkog projekta “Ulica grada Vukovara u Zagrebu – urbanističko-arhitektonski problemi”

Apoteoza nebodera – Srećko Horvat

GLEDATI NIJE DOVOLJNO
u sklopu programa UrbanFestival X

Četvrtak 7.10.2010.
od 17 do 18 sati
kula Lotrščak

Siniša Labrović – Marking

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Grupa 4 – Garden on wheels

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Verica Kovačevska – Power Tower

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Grupa 4 – Picnic

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Philippe van Wolputte – Forlorn Hope

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Le Zbor

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

History in the museum, the museum in history

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Nives Sertć & Sonja Pregrad – Watching is not enough

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Davor Sanvincenti – Musical Handrail

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Grupa 4 – Curtains

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Underground Cinema

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Grupa 4 – Birthday party

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

ANA Elizabet – Are you breathing?

[See image gallery at urbanfestival.blok.hr]

Autorski tim UrbanFestivala X uvrstio je u program prijedlog izvedbe performansa Siniše Labrovića ne znajući njegov sadržaj. Labrović je predložio da mu se ukaže potpuno povjerenje u pogledu otvaranja festivala, čime je autorski tim izgubio kontrolu nad djelom festivalskog programa. Tim umjetničko-kustoskim eksperimentom na još je jednoj razini tematiziran nadzor i kontrola koji su ovogodišnja tema UrbanFestivala X – (ne)mogućnosti.

Performans je započeo okupljanjem u kuli Lotrščak u 11:45 nakon čega je Labrović s okupljenom publikom krenuo prema Markovom trgu gdje se pomokrio okrećući se oko svoje osi. Autorski tim UrbanFestivala u potpunosti podržava njegov rad smatrajući kako je takva animalna gesta upravo odraz načina na koji vladajuće strukture tretiraju javnost.

foto: Damir Žižić

If there is in us a germ of great disease, oversensitivity, the source of our incurable and uncontemporary Hamletisms is in the fatal bizarreness of that place …

A.G. Matoš about Upper Town, 1905, At Home

On the hundredth anniversary of Matoš’s location of our Hamletisms in Upper Town, the Government of the Republic of Croatia passed a law prohibiting public gathering of St. Mark’s Square, achieving in that way a double castration of Upper Town urban space: on the urbanistic-architectural level, the function of a square was replaced by the function of an inner courtyard of a city palace, and on the social-political level the foundations of democracy themselves were brought into question. Like a rash on the skin of a sick body, over 50 surveillance cameras are the contemporary symptom of fatal bizarreness.[1]

Accepting that we are powerless in solving the problem of Upper Town – by moving the Government and the Parliament – we decided to put the “no” into brackets and rethink how artistic and cultural practices can work in the existing situation, in a space of with daily[2] prohibitions, the source of whose contradictions[3] is difficult to locate.

As opposed to optimism of Mogućnosti ’71 (Possibilities ’71)[4], we chose ambivalence: it stems from the concrete work on the festival and the context of time and place. This year’s program is at the same time a result of successful cooperations, realizations of ideas, making changes and opening closed doors, as well as the impossibility of communication, giving up, changing of original ideas and fruitless attempts. All of the Festival’s projects are tied to specific places, reacting to their problematic functions. A part of them starts from the impossibility of a place to function according to the needs and rights of citizens, searching for brackets for the negative prefix in actions/installations which introduce new ways of using space, and a part of them boldly starts with an assumption about the possibility of action, suggesting scenarios for direct, sometimes provocative, confrontation with the surveillance system. Their “no” is present latently, as a potential result of the performance itself and the reactions of the audience and the public.

Instead of the fruitless Hamletisms, we accept the ambivalence of (im)possibility and base concrete action on the tension it generates.

[1] Upper Town as a central space of political power and numerous cultural institutions is simultaneously a source of surveillance and a space where surveillance exhibits its effects. That dispersive and decentralized surveillance and control mechanism branches into all directions, like a rhizome, by which, consciously or not, it conceals its visibility.

[2] Example 1: a policeman asking citizens not to sit on St. Mark’s square under the excuse that they can block the traffic of Parliament vehicles
Example 2: an employee of a security company not allowing entrance into the courtyard of Jelačić Palace, owned by a public city institution, The Zagreb City Museum

[3] Example1: despite it functions largely as a residential zone, despite the educational institutions and a high concentration of museums and other cultural institutions, the desolation of Upper Town is disturbed only by sporadic groups of foreign tourists
Example 2: to solve the parking problem, a garage on Tuškanac has been built and the parking on St. Mark’s square prohibited. However, Government and Parliament vehicles are still parked there and the surrounding streets, squares and inner courtyards are clogged by cars

[4] One of the first manifestations of contemporary artistic practice in a public space, organized in Upper Town by The Contemporary Art Museum, which had been located there until 2009

INTRODUCTION
GORNJI GRAD (UPPER TOWN) – A SHORT HISTORICAL
OVERVIEW
RESEARCH
REVITALIZATION
SURVEILLANCE
ART INTERVENTIONS
LITERATURE
SOCIAL LIFE
TRIVIA