Radakulan, Vojtěch: Soft Architecture (2018)

wood, neopolen, paper; single chanel video on monitor
128,00 x 198,00 x 50,00 cm (I.)
Gift of the artist, 2022

The work was exhibited on the exhibition "Othernity - Reconditioning our Modern Heritage" in the Hungarian Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2023 in Venice. "Soft architecture refers to responsive, malleable and ephemeral structures. Some structures and places are only accessible thanks to the technology we have. We are asked to overcome not only physical, but also virtual distances, both on a much bigger scale than ever in our history. Computers offer us a vast space, where the basic building block has exactly the same potential as every other, accessible from almost everywhere. This freedom offers not only a possibility to manifest various differences, but also to shape according to immediate needs and changing conditions. Thus, one can design architecture where the left is right, poor is rich, one is many, hard is soft, old is young and vice versa. We are witnessing a vast variety of possibilities, with opposing structures standing in the same direction, without disputes. When a visitor sits on a piece of soft architecture, the human body forms part of the facade. Then there is a video, which first looks like an old footage. Two characters are talking about what they see. One of them is a young female architect, the other an old male maintenance worker. In the beginning they already have something in common, but they do not know it yet. During the dialogue, they switch sides in terms of their opinions on how to reconstruct a building like this. The video has three chapters, describing the past, present and possible future of the building. The trustworthiness of the footage declines as it goes further, in contrast with the dialogue, in which the characters seem to exchange their opinions. As a silent witness, the visitor may observe this dance about architecture, and decide whether it is soft techno or hard blues." Vojtěch Radakulan