Stage Directions

STAGE DIRECTIONS (2014, 2015, 2015, 2017, 2023, 2024)

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Collaboration with Joanna Zawieja.

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"Stage Directions" explores the written instruction as an architectural tool. The project emerges from a conversation the influence of an instruction on a material process and in particular how the orthographic drawing defines architecture: in part it represents an ideal reality, in part it functions as a guide through the process of construction. Portraying architecture as a series of completed autonomous objects frozen in time, the drawing most often emits the physical work, the conflicts, the life, and the decay that surround a construction.

Likewise, a written instruction dictates and establishes conditions, but maybe it can also open up for unforeseeable situations and solutions. There is a temporal aspect of text that makes process central, that creates a redistribution of auteurship, and a continuous attentiveness to usage and the passage of time.

"Stage Directions" centers on a written manual that describes the construction and demolition of a waiting room in which the principle unit of measurement is time. That is, time defines the function and extension of the construction both temporally and spatially. The manual describes the construction and demolition of the structure at a particular location, within a set period of time and within a particular economic framework. There are no restrictions or qualifications other than those specified in the manual or determined by time, space, and budget.

The waiting room has been constructed in six variations by six different builders whose interpretation of the text is at the center of the project:

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1.

Stage Directions / Waiting Room, Galleri Mejan, Stockholm, 13–22 May 2014. Budget: 30 000 SEK+VAT. Constructed by Tete Inredningar (Tommy Telandersson).

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2.

Stage Directions / Waiting Room, MDT, Stockholm, 3–28 November 2014. Budget: 40 000 SEK+VAT. Constructed by Henrik Persson.

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3.

Stage Directions / Waiting Room, Konstakademien, Stockholm, 5–29 October 2015. Budget: 30000 SEK+VAT. Constructed by Tomas Lööw.

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4.

Stage Directions / Waiting Room, ArkDes, Stockholm, 5 October 2017 – 11 February 2018. Budget: 40 hours of work, reused materials. Constructed by Peter Eckerud.

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5.

Stage Directions / Waiting Room, ÖSKG / Tjörnedala Konsthall, Simrishamn, 19 September – 8 November 2023. Budget: 30 000 SEK+VAT. Constructed by Martin Klein.

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6.

Stage Directions / Waiting Room, Farrell Centre, Newcastle, 25 march – 18 august 2024. Budget: 83 hours of work, reused materials. Constructed by Peter Evans.