Article Number: 4665
English, No Binding, 40 Pages, 2013

Stealth Architecture. Architecture + Critical Spatial Practice

€ 11.00

Publikation zur Ausstellung 'STEALTH ARCHITECTURE', Eröffnung am 7. Februar 2013 während des Rundgangs der Städelschule, Green Room, Schaumainkai 37, Frankfurt/Main (Englisch)

Eine Kooperation des Weltkulturen Museums und der Städelschule für Theatrum Mundi/Global Street.

Historically, Frankfurt is home to the 'Messe Frankfurt', one of the largest trade fairs in the world, which - in its current legal and operational framework - was established in 1907. However, the actual trade fair dates back to 1152, when Frankfurt was first mentioned as a major port for international trade. One of the central advantages of Frankfurt as a historically interregional and later global city is owed to its highly convenient geopolitical location: next to or close to two major rivers (Main and Rhein), and well connected to major pan-European trade routes and road networks. Today, Frankfurt hosts the ninth busiest airport globally, and is home to the Lufthansa fleet. In 1785 the first recorded manned flight in Germany took place in Frankfurt when a hydrogen-balloon was launched as part of the trade fair. Lufthansa was founded two years after the Messe Frankfurt.

Hidden Infrastructures: the enabling space for trade

Since Frankfurt is such an important centre for trade, it bursts with two very different sets of infrastructure: at first, it necessitated a formal infrastructure, which supports, benefits from, and enables official trade. Further, the above phenomenon produces a fertile ground for alternative forms of markets and trade, but also relies on a second-layer infrastructure, which allows for a trade-capital to operate on a daily basis, an infrastructure, which is often not visible and may not have a clearly recognizable and specifically designed facade or face to it.

Framework

As part of the larger project Theatrum Mundi/Global Street, this yearlong research project at the Städelschule investigates the question and phenomenon of (informal) trade, spaces of infrastructure, and - more specifically - practiced and buildings without a Face/ade. Theatrum Mundi/Global Street is a project that aims to bring architects, urban planners, and visual artists together in order to re-imagine questions of the public, publicness, and everyday street culture of 21st century cities. In New York, Theatrum Mundi is working on questions of choreography and public speaking, while the London group is working on questions of space, sound and light, the Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC) project will investigate the urban reality and potentials of exchange and trade, as well as the objects and spaces that these elements produce, both in relation to the city and to its spatial setting: meeting points, public and otherwise, in the shade, so to speak.

(Quelle: Publikation)