Ideal Spaces, Building Worlds. Installation view at Palazzo Mora, 2016.

The theme of ideal spaces is basic for an understanding of time, space and the human existence. It is an old theme deeply embedded in our cultural memory, and at the same time, it has never lost its actuality and appeal. Since it contains human hopes – and a myth: After a paradise lost as the ancient space where humans led a peaceful life in harmony, the human longing is about a new one, a paradise regained. A new space of relief and of unity, with nature and with themselves, after that old paradise has vanished forever. An ideal space is a one of both imagination and utopian perfection, and we are looking for such a state of being, to experience it anew. Molded out as a vision of architectural settings where such an ideal life could take place.
Throughout the years, in our work we have returned to the theme of what ideal spaces could be: planned, imagined and practiced. Which mind set and conceptions, which imageries, hopes and fears were underlying their constructions, and what kind of paradise should become regained by them. Today, where real spaces become the object of an ever-increasing dissolution and virtualization, the question arises anew of what an ideal space actually is, or could be. Which is not only a matter of rational planning but also of phantasy and imagination. Since as an ideal one, such kind of space is a one experienced by imagination, primarily.
We want to invite visitors to join this venture, by experiencing spaces through contemplation and activity. Through contemplation by experiencing historical spaces conceptualized as ideal ones; and through visitor activity by constructing their own spaces together, in common effort. This will allow the visitors to experience their commonly generated spaces together, both as a process and a result. A paradise is no place of solitude and it is not build by a single person; but is the result of a common effort, instead. Moreover, if the myth of paradise is an eternal tale about life in harmony, who says a myth is a lie.
As a whole, our exhibition consists of three interrelated parts:
A sequence of worlds the visitor can enter, to experience and to imagine ideal spaces; shown as utopian but inhabitable places, built or conceptualized in the course of history. The worlds we show cover the entire span from conceptualized up to realized versions. They are presented in a cave automatic virtual environment (“cave”), so that the visitor has the opportunity to really stand in the midst of these worlds, having time and the possibility to really experience them; and through that, gain an impression of those worlds very aim: to be an ideal space.
The sequence starts with the cathedral, a space that is symbolic, but points to a final, real space to achieve in a future time, a final paradise to come. It continues with worlds conceptualized, such as da Vinci’s ideal city, a first functional city in the Renaissance; as Cité Industrielle, a space of liberation through mechanics; as Motopia or Babel IID, spaces of utopian perfection for a perfect life in the age of modernity. As worlds built but still ideal such as Karlsruhe, a combination of ideal space, domination and civil freedom. It ends with the Favela, a decisive counterpoint to all the constructions shown so far. A favela seems to be the very opposite to any ‘ideal’ space; but here, in contrary to all the spaces shown before, the inhabitants have the possibility to actively participate in shaping their own environment. It is a one not pre-given any longer as a perfect space made by some God-like demiurges, fixed for all eternity. Instead, it is a space that has the chance to unfold; molded by those who have to live inside its terms. Can such a space of co-creation also turn into an ideal?
In the second part of our exhibition, instead of being solely an observer of pre-defined spaces, the visitors have the possibility to create their very own ‘ideal’ space. The emphasis lies on generating such a space together, as a world where the visitors must act as a temporary community to co-create the imagined space they want to live in.
The created worlds are composed of different physical elements such as sand and building devices that generate, in their different combinations, a virtual space projected in front of the visitors. The sand is for forming the terrain, as one element of an ideal space. The building devices, symbolizing certain kinds of architecture, are either mapped directly into the virtual world as landmarks, such as temples, towers, etc.; or represent a local change in the virtual world, such as an area or streets. For the visitors molding the worlds with their own hands, a direct haptic experience becomes possible. By seeing the influence in real time on the spatial gestalt as a visual representation, the space built up appears as a totality. By that, a basic anthropological experience combines with imagination in direct visibility: The ideal space becomes a space immediately experienced, in the making of one’s own world.
Architectural types derived from the historical sequence of the worlds shown in the cave are serving as input for the building devices offered to the visitors. In this way, the two parts of the exhibition become connected.
Furthermore, the exhibit contains a world disk, as its third part. Here, the results of those spaces generated by the visitors transform into a real historical process, reflected in changes taking place on that cosmic disk during the exhibition’s entire duration. It is composed of different rings aligned in a concentric order, each ring representing a century, starting with that of the cathedral in the disk’s center, and ending with that of the favela at its outer rim. Each ring is composed of images of typical architecture belonging to the respective century, and those centuries where our worlds in the cave come from appear larger. Thus, the visitor can see where the respective world is located, inside the entire historical context.
The disk receives input from the worlds created by the visitors and it translates these inputs into changes taking place on the disk itself. Through that, it reflects what is going on in the process of the visitors’ world making, and it does so constantly: each day, the disk will look different, as does a real world formed by human beings.
The disk thus connects with the ideal spaces shown in the cave, as well as with the spaces made by the visitors.
In these ways, the three parts of the exhibition align together, to form a coherent system. Since it was our very intention to conceive the topic of ideal spaces as a whole, the single parts of which present a unity, of both experience and of making.
Information about the concept of our exhibition, as well as explanations of the historical spaces presented in the cave are available at www.idealspaces.org, also in Italian. Here, the ideal spaces made by the visitors are on display also. We did so because it has been very important for us not to merely install an event, but to provide the facility to continue. The search for a better world should not cease after the event of exhibiting is over.
Ulrich Gehmann, Matthias Wölfel, Michael Johansson
Andreas Sieß, Daniel Hepperle
Johannes Gruber, Alexander Zyuzkevich, Alexander Kadin, Hana Rude, Nico Häfner, Andreas Schaumann, Ulrike Sattler
We want to express our thanks to: Steffen Krämer (scientific assistance), Matthias Bühler (Favela ass.), Jochen Heibertshausen (music ass.), Michel Wirth and Anna Giulia Volpato (language & translation), Yasmine Kuehl (data evaluation ass.), Sandra Beuck (showreel), Benedikt Stoll (Karlsruhe ass.), Martin Reiche