Izabela Wieczorek’s project ‘The Cabinet of [Atmospheric] Curiosities: A Journey in Search of the Origins of Atmospheric Practice’ exhibited at the WORKS+WORDS19 Biennale in Artistic Research in Architecture at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK) in Copenhagen from 28th November 2019 to 19th January 2020. The exhibition, curated by Christina Capetillo, Anders Abraham and Peter Bertram presents contemporary European artistic research in architecture produced between 2015 and 2019, combining the making of works with reflections in words.
In this context, ‘The Cabinet of [Atmospheric] Curiosities: A Journey in Search of the Origins of Atmospheric Practice’ is presented as an on-going project, which both charts multiple ways in which spatial atmospheres have been theorised and materialised and engages with the development of new tools, methods, and creative processes that define atmospheric production. The project also challenges the boundaries between architectural design, history and theory, offering an opportunity for combining traditional modes of historical research with design-led-research, curatorial practice and artistic production.
Drawing from the fascination with curiosities cabinets—historically seen as a means of classifying and communicating knowledge through a collection of disparate artefacts— The Cabinet combines words, drawings, images and objects, revealing new and, at times, unexpected relationships between works written, built or imagined in the past and the contemporary theories of atmosphere. Yet, the documentary nature of the project is subverted by a creative inhabitation of the studied works, which are approached as territories for experimentation and invention. In doing so, The Cabinet becomes a site where histories and fictional scenarios co-exist and overlap, establishing multidirectional dialogues and opening up a new context for an exploration of the imaginative potential of the notion of atmosphere.
For more information: https://kadk.dk/en/calendar/works-words-2019
Photography credited: Søren Svendsen