http://studiotej.com/projects daily 1.0 2024-04-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1461928379516-TE374RPPUPZCVNNBXX5N/30A_0182.jpg Projects ↑ THE WORLD FEELS REALLY BIG AND I LIKE IT Location: Various (including The Serpentine, London) Year: Ongoing Medium: Public space intervention Some places make you feel small: that the world around you is really big. The sky above seems so high, the space around so wide. It brings about some calm and perspective, especially in a city where space can feel sparse. We chose to mark the place that had made us feel this way with a gold balloon, pinpointing this rare occurrence in London. This is an ongoing project across many sites and cities. Site 1 (pictured) depicts swimming in the Serpentine with the gold balloon. We are always looking out for places that make the world feel really big in order to pinpoint them also. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1463154057916-OC5FCOGK6VG4E3LFGOHI/intro.jpg Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1559034903777-J2KPHCB4U4AWLGNNYYLJ/CNV00029.JPG Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1461856366349-8IGN4CYSE3OFODMY6XT4/list.jpg Projects ↑ CRISIS KIT Location: Venice Medium: Public space installation + catalogue As a response to the 2015 Venice Biennale's theme of the ‘state of things’, Crisis Kit looks at potential catastrophes and object based alleviators with which to prepare before emergency. Predicting these disasters, problems and situations is impossible, highlighting the current disquiet and chaos of our contemporary condition. How can we ever prepare for crisis? The public exhibition acts as a stage in which to project our interpretations of potential disasters that may or may never occur. Radical ruptures through natural, economic, social, cultural, political and emotional landscapes can occur at any time. Crisis Kit is a humorous yet sincere attempt to predict and interpret these impregnable futures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1461934705975-ZACFAROSO1GR5HEWRH7O/Scan+4shaper.jpg Projects ↑ MITCHAM Location: Mitcham, London Medium: Painting Studio Weave & Merton Council commission to paint a 30m stretch of fence to welcome people to Mitcham and direct to the town centre. Our initial idea centered around the well-used, beautiful allotment that lies on the other side of the fence. Research we did with allotment owners gave us a wealth of knowledge and information that led us to make a seasonal food chart containing as much of this as possible. The aim being to inspire, direct and brighten the walk to/from Eastfields station. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1461927558222-DYZ0D13JYMP9QWGUVM9E/F1710007.JPG Projects ↑ FLAMINIO Location: Flaminio, Rome Medium: Public space intervention, film, publication and photographs Flaminio is a suburb of Northern Rome where Studio Tej set out to look at the gap between the Global and Local. Flaminio is home to internationally famous landmarks (such as Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI gallery); yet it’s also a quiet neighbourhood with local businesses and homes. The area is hugely popular with tourists, yet they rarely stray from the iconic sites, ignoring the local aspects. Plus local residents have no relationship to the global institutions. We explored bridging this gap, connecting people to the real Flaminio. 10 cameras were given to 10 locals with the request to document their life in Flaminio, resulting in a collection of local artwork. We introduced the community’s artwork into the MAXXI gallery - putting the local and global side by side. This was followed by pasting the photos onto the trees of the tourist heavy areas; thereby introducing visitors to the people and places of Flaminio. There is a film and book (funded via crowdfunder) to accompany the project. Portrait images by Tom Cockram https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1712851500895-5DU461MVDB4UXDZN1RV8/Screenshot+2024-04-11+at+16.47+copy.jpg Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1491317851094-STC7EP5QURLJXIMZVZ7N/CNV00020.jpg Projects ↑ TEJ BY THE SEA - 10 INTERVENTIONS Location: Venice Lido Medium: Performance, Photography Tej by the Sea - 10 Interventions explores how collaborations can continue to occur once a piece of architecture has been 'completed'. How do we occupy space differently to others? How can we re-interpret spaces through use? How can these structures continue to be 'built' over time? When does the space ever be 'completed' and who decides this? Once one idea is executed that can make way for new interpretations for others. At each beach structure Studio Tej changed the ways of using the platforms and collaborated with the spaces. Whether through adding to the huts, taking away from them, changing the approach or just simply through physical corporeal use, a series of new ideas for each was explored. The original intentions for each was abandoned to make way for new inventive experiences with the architectures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1528887021859-XU0PMJTILE0WZ8FGLC43/70890032.JPG Projects ↑ MOTORWAY PICNIC Location: Marrakech, Morocco Medium: Photography Motorway Picnic: a research and development project in Marrakech, Morocco exploring emerging community use of alternative public spaces. Public space, and the way we use it, is essential to how we live as communities in urban environments. It is a space for everyone to use, and in most cities, has limited restrictions or guidance on how this should be done. In the UK urban public spaces are vast, frequent and varied. We have the luxury of extensive green space, high quality civic squares and everything in between - yet we don't use this to its full potential. This series explores how these important locations are used in other urban cultures, and what types of spaces are chosen as sites. A visit to Marrakech in Morocco showed us how small pockets of, what in a British urban context would be described as fringes, edges or forgotten spaces, can be maximised for exciting and vibrant communal uses. There, due to limited formal parks as well as congested pedestrianised areas, small slithers of green space, such as verges next to highly trafficked roads, are taken over for civic use. Strips of grass next to dual carriage ways, or insignificant spots of landscaping at a new shopping mall, are cleverly re-appropriated by families and friends. Picnics are everywhere, and are key to how these spaces are re-interpreted by the community. Sharing food and gathering together in these unusual sites, despite juxtaposing exhaust fumes next to curated borders, is a unique way to reclaim space as a community. Marrakech uses every possible type of public space to enrich its civic life. Sitting and sharing food creates a new dynamic that opens up the discussion around how these 'fringe' sites could be viewed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1620931798623-4QFN7N0ZHLIKPC7L77ZB/R1-03674-0004.JPG Projects ↑ MOTORWAY PICNIC - TOTTENHAM Location: Tottenham, North London Medium: Intervention Inspired by the roadside picnics we documented in Marrakech, we performed our own in Tottenham, North London. Searching for the opposite of what would usually be deemed a ‘desirable’ place to sit and eat a picnic, we challenged both our own and our cultural perceptions of these pockets of unused public green spaces. Sitting in an unusual spot for this activity whilst also being at the same eye-level as drivers sparked unexpected interaction with curious motorists passing by and local residents about the value of their green spaces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5722214c45bf211a9217e8c6/1491390901775-PEROTV18T8FATUFPK1JR/vsco-photo-1.jpg Projects ↑ ANONYMOUS LETTERS Location: YMCA Central, London Medium: Sound installation An audio installation of short, unsigned letters installed as listening stations in the London YMCA Central building. These words of encouragement, of thanks, of support, of doubt, of anger, quietly act as a poetic provocation to invite curiosity around wellbeing. This rolling loop of mp3 readings was installed at five locations around London YMCA Central during September and October 2016, showcasing a wonderful range of expressions and anonymous human connections. Written by the general public as well as the members and staff of the YMCA, the letters were recorded on site at and read by a multitude of equally anonymous voices. Comissioned by the London YMCA, Architecture 00 and The School of Life, this was as part of a series of artworks as part of the Eudaemonia series. http://studiotej.com/contact daily 0.75 2021-05-13 http://studiotej.com/about daily 0.75 2016-04-29