Submitted by Berrin Chatzi Chousein

Tallinn Architecture Biennale

Turkey Architecture News - Aug 23, 2013 - 20:32 4372 views

The Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB) is an international architecture and urban-planning forum organised by the Estonian Centre of Architecture. The Biennale continues the tradition of the Nordic-Baltic Architecture Triennale, which began in the 1990’s, in an updated and fresh form. TAB is an architecture festival with a diverse programme that fosters local architectural culture. TAB encourages synergy between Estonian and foreign architects as well as between architects and the general public by way of creating contacts and exchanging ideas. The curators set the topic of each Biennale. The architects of b210 (Kaidi Õis, Karin Tõugu, Kadri Klementi, Aet Ader, Mari Hunt) won the TAB 2013 curator’s competition with their concept Recycling Socialism that redefines the Soviet era urban environment and aspires towards its better integration in the city of today. There are four main events at the core of the Biennale: the Symposium, the Curators’ Exhibition, the Vision Competition, and the Architecture Schools’ Exhibition. Numerous side-events complement the main programme: the TAB Lounge, publications, installations, films, lectures, discussions, guided tours, presentations by universities, parties, and a lot more.

All are invited!

TAB 2013: Recycling Socialism

TAB 2013 will be held from September 4–30, 2013 (opening events take place from September 4-8). The topic of this year’s Biennale – Recycling Socialism – explores and studies socialist and modernist spaces and ideas.

In the Biennale’s framework, the given era is limited from the 1960’s through the 1980’s, when unprecedented forms and urban dimensions appeared in the cityscape. In the course of a massive production of space, glorious ideologies were poured into concrete moulds for a society that never came to be. Contemporary society lives in a world of individuality and customisability, but the awkward moulds are still here – in Tallinn, in Estonia, in Eastern and Central Europe, in Europe at large and all over the world.

We have reached a turning point, in which an ever-growing proportion of European architects consider this as historical architecture, from an era preceding their own personal experience, to be uncovered and explored. These spaces constitute an abundant collection from which to rediscover projects, materials, ideas and stories. Which are the most valuable finds and what is there to recycle for the future?