Inspiration is a driving force in creative design processes. In architecture, it provides important impulses for the development of concepts and approaches, often in unexpected and unforeseeable ways. Latvian designer Anna Butele, of studio Annvil in Riga explores the notion of inspiration in a levitating installation: 100 works materialize from a collaborative experimental project. Drawings, graphics, photographs, and models by renowned architects from 28 countries form a chain—each contribution is a reaction inspired by the previous work. Personal statements by the architects themselves frame the exhibition installation, allowing the audience to immerse itself in the inspirational impulses essential to creative work processes.
‘100 Experiments’ brings together a sequence of 100 works, each of which is functioning both as a source of inspiration as well as an interpretative product for the following. Originating from a single of which go back to a single initial event: In 2017, Anna Butele handed Theo Van Doesburg’s painting ‘The Rhythm of a Russian Dance’ (1918) to an architect. His interpretation, was and then passed on to subsequent architects his work to other architects of his choice to serve as a source of inspiration and impetus for their contributions.
© Tatiana Bilbao, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Mexico City (Mexico) | © William O’Brien, WOJR, Cambridge (USA)
Continuing the chain of inspiration, contributions have been made by renowned architects from 28 countries, including Suo Fujimoto (Japan), Minsuk Cho (South Korea), Alexander Savvich Brodsky (Russia), Bijoy Jain (India), Tom Wiscombe (USA), Manuel Aires Mateus (Portugal), Do Ho Suh (South Korea), Marina Tabassum (Bangladesh), Renato Rizzi (Italy), Jürgen Mayer H. (Germany), Derek Dellekamp (Mexico), and Peter Stutchbury (Australia).
Depending on the input and personal experience, the contributions change and shift, often in opposite directions: from rational to irrational, interior to exterior, personal to public, local to global, random to planned, from marginal to central or even submissive to dominating. In so, the contributions highlight the architect’s social responsibility, inherent in designing the built environment.
© Jürgen Mayer H., J.MAYER.H, Berlin (Germany) | © Bijoy Jain, Studio Mumbai, Mumbai (India)
These are depicted by means of drawings, concept sketches, photographs, collages, graphics, and architectural models. The exhibition at Aedes unites all 100 works in a large-scale levitating installation, providing viewers a glimpse into inspirational impulses that drive creative processes. Individual contributions are then re-iterated by personal statements of the architects themselves.
A publication (Jap Sam Books) is expected by 2019/2020.
© Walter Angonese, Walter Angonese architect, Kaltern (Italy) | © Volker Giencke, Volker Giencke and Company, Graz (Austria)
About Annvil
Anna Butele (1980) founded the design agency Annvil in 2004. Based in Riga, Latvia, Annvil spans across a diverse portfolio including designs for commercial, residential, hi-rise, office, and neighbourhood master plans. Annvil has participated in several art and design exhibitions. In 2017, Anna Butele furthermore established Cobalt, an architecture and design company in Baku, Azerbaijan.
