Archinect - News

'Barbarism': Russia appears to have targeted Kyiv’s Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial in a potential war crime

2022-03-02T12:43:00-05:00

Russian forces have bombed Babyn Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv where thousands of Jews were executed by Nazis during the Second World War. At least five people were killed and another five were injured in the incident. Located at the site is an artist-conceived memorial to the Holocaust massacre currently under construction. The status of the memorial is currently unclear.

The attack was part of the Russian military’s attempt to disable a nearby central TV tower, killing five in the process. Jewish groups across the world decried the act, stating that it was “an attack on Jews around the world” and citing that such targeting of cultural property is illegal under Article 38 of the Geneva Convention. The Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attack an act of “barbarism.”

Ukraine’s Jewish population is technically among the largest in the world and, in the past, has been used as proxies in the Kremlin’s “Fake News”-fueled disinformation campaign to delegitimize the government by associating it with certain factions that prefer a kind of hard-right ultranationalism.

The monument commemorates a two-day massacre that occurred on the site in September 1941 in which at least 33,700 Jews were murdered by SS men in a gulch north of the city’s center. It already contains a wonderful small synagogue from the Switzerland-based German architect Manuel Her...

SoapBox: Manifestos

2017-11-13T16:14:00-05:00

Soapbox is a new weekly series delivering a curated set of lectures, talks and symposia concerning contemporary themes but explored through the archives of lectures past and present. With the plethora of lectures, talks, symposia and panels occurring world wide on a daily basis, how can we begin to keep up and if not, find them once they are gone? Soapbox looks to assemble a selection of recent, archived and outlier lectures surrounding a given theme. Soapbox looks to curate this never-ending library of ideas into an engaging and diverse list of thoughts and provocations. Soapbox is just that, a collection aimed at discovering the occasional needle in a haystack.

This week, in its first offering, we present. Manifestos. A selection of videos whose topics or purpose was to present if not reinforce, Manifestos.

1. GSAPP: What happened to the Architectural Manifesto Series

a. Enrique Walker, Felicity Scott and Anthony Vidler on the architectural manifesto. (2011)

b. Beatriz Colomina,...

Marina Abramovic Tries to Kickstart OMA-Designed Art Institute

2013-08-08T18:40:00-04:00

The [Marina Abramovic Institute] was launched last year, and designed by none other than OMA, under the direction of partners Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas. The architects are poised to explore programming for the center and produce mock-ups--depending on Kickstarter results. The funding Abramovic is after is to cover this "first phase" work on the project.

Performance artist Marina Abramovic is the latest established artist seeking funding for large-scale projects using Kickstarter, the democratic fundraising platform. The Marina Abramovic Institute, to be located in Hudson, New York, will use the funds from Kickstarter backers for its first-phase of development and programming. Abramovic's "long durational works," such as her 2010 residency at MoMA, are in line with her rationale for using Kickstarter:

"By inviting the broader public to contribute to our early development, Kickstarter helps to affirm and build the engaged community necessary for sustaining MAI into the future. With your contribution, you become a founder of the institute not only financially, but also conceptually, by partaking in the very experiences we hope to create."

And from the Kickstarter FAQ, in response to "Why did Marina choose to work with OMA?"

"MAI is a new type of multidisciplinary center that requires an innovative design to fulfill its func...