This seminar examined relationships and tensions between redevelopment, and the city's marginal and abandoned spaces by presenting artists and activists who engage with spaces under transformation and are contesting the formation of urban spaces into non-public, commercial ownership under market-led redevelopment.

Bringing together a range of approaches (subversive and otherwise) and strategies for experiencing the urban everyday and the formation of alternative public spaces, the session featured a range of approaches from formal presentations to informal city tours and public actions.

PETER LANG & ALDO INNOCENCI: Stalker - Rome

Ten years ago, 15 Italian architecture students spent four days walking the periphery of Rome. The group, called Stalker, documented what they saw in writing and photos, capturing the suburban scenery: power plants, farmlands, squatter settlements, highway on-ramps, and the occasional ancient ruin. At night they camped. They followed a ring road that has surrounded the capital city since the 1950s. Their mission followed a movement from about the same time—Situationism, a quasi-Marxist artistic theory that scrutinized the banalities of the proletarian urban landscape.

Traditionally girded within medieval city walls, Italian cities had spread rampantly in the post-war decades, and their edges were dissolving. Stalker examined that dissolution, methodically circumnavigating the scattered urban boundary. The students saw the drab places as laboratories to study human interactions with built space, and they saw that study as architecture.

NICKY KEOGH & PADDY BLOOMER

Nicky Keogh and Paddy Bloomer, artist duo based in Belfast who have a hands-on relationship with the city and are not afraid of getting their hands dirty. Previous projects include an exploration of Belfast sewers, a bin disco and many other adventurous exploits.

Past work includes the construction and sailing of the most beautiful gondola that has ever been seen in Venice. The gondola is made from skips, bathtubs and other recycled materials. The gondola / bin boat was part of The Nature of Things: A Long Weekend, Northern Ireland at the Venice Biennale Oct 2005



ANDREW McLELLAND - Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, Belfast

Andrew highlighted buildings at risk in Belfast and delivered a presentation in the Black Box before the days tours.
Factotum is a very flexible amplification designed to function as a support system.

FACTOTUM CHOIR

Factotum allows for individual volume and tone adjustment.
Factotum should be placed in the area of the artistic activity.
Factotum is easily portable
Magnificent performance is achieved through Two Satellites.

www.factotum.org.uk