The Museum of Architecture and Design presents the visiting exhibition of 51N4E architects prepared in cooperation with Flemish Government. Before the official opening, 28. 6., at 5 p.m. a lecture will be given by Freek Persyn, one of the founders and leaders of 51N4E.

The exhibition Double or Nothing expresses a fundamental position of 51N4E: making every project a vector of urban and social transformation. It is about pushing a situation to its limits, to exceed the programme demanded, so as to change behaviour, provoke encounters, enlarge the sphere of influence of the public domain. 51N4E looks to place urban and social issues in the centre of everything it does, refusing to yield to the trend of overexpressing the materiality of the architecture that dominates the architectural production of recent decades – as testified by the self-referential architecture that invades the urban space (and the reviews) – challenging the marginalisation of the architect as “designer”, as deviser of beautiful or spectacular objects. Covering the entire spectrum of the discipline, from a city neighbourhood urban development plan to the simple transformation of a modest house, all their projects articulate this wish to reorient, to open up the field of architecture again.
But the title of the exhibition is also a way of emphasising that, while every project is a commitment between a client and an architect, this mutual commitment must take on a particular dimension if the aim is to influence behaviour, enrich urban reality. This presupposes the acceptance of going beyond, even changing, the initial programme so that the response is also an enriching factor for collective life. Double or Nothing is a way of presenting this shared ambition. And of emphasising the architects’ capacity for getting many of their clients to think outside the box and explore innovative solutions, and so help give architecture its true dimension: that of an eminently social art.
Curator of the exhibition: Dominique Boudet

51N4E, founded in 1998, is a Brussels based international practice that concerns itself with matters of space production i.e. architecture, urbanism, design and spatial analysis. It gained renown through key projects such as Lamot (2005), TUD Tower Tirana (2004/12), C-Mine (2006/10), Skanderbeg Square (2008/12) and 50.000 logements Bordeaux (2010). 51N4E is led by 3 partners: Johan Anrys, Freek Persyn and Peter Swinnen. Since 2007 51N4E doubled its impact through the establishment of a Balkan office in Tirana.

The exhibition is made poosible with the support from the Flemish Government.

Opening

Thursday, 28 June 2012, 7 pm

Lecture by Freek Persyn, 51N4E
Before the opening, 5 pm

Info

Pika Leban
T: 01 5484 270
E: infobio@mao.si