#01 on Floatation / Floater Magazine suggests an inventory of floatation mechanisms within architecture; Without Stability, Without Foundation / Flip is an ocean research platform that capsizes in order to maintain its stability. Yannikos Vassiloulis presents the mechanism of this paradoxical stability / Armin Linke’s images of astronauts and divers project the realities of a utopian body equipped with prosthetics that provide the ability to exist in conditions of No Gravitation / Wave Garden by Yusuke Obuchi and Meduseabloo by b. are performative, highly intelligent environments capable of collecting and administrating data / In 1968, Takis invented Oscillation of the Sea; a device that translates the motion of the sea surface into kinetic energy / Dimitris Antonakakis describes the chronicle of an unusual project commissioned to Atelier66; redesigning the cruiser Libra Y the parameters of instability and non foundation demarcate a new territory for the architect / Louisa Adam explores architectural strategies and practices within contemporary cultural concerns, commenting on OMA’s Harbour of Ideas / Nikos Navridis cooperated with floater magazine for the production of a digital representation of his recent show Tomorrow will be a Wonderful Day... / Evi Sougara's interactive animation is based on J. Swift's Laputa; a mythical island from the novel Gulliver's Travels / Takis Zenetos’ Electronic Urban Planning Utopia is negotiated in juxtaposition with Maurizio Cattelan’s installation Mise-en-Scene. Nikos Tsimas declares floatation experiences as parameters that can provoke feelings of Pleasure and Awe / Micro-organisations, by Elysa Lozano, reflects the socio-political realities of Sealand's micronation, where the artist explores the potential of registering and developing a not for profit organization / in Floating and Sinking in Psychoanalysis Nikos Sideris analyses the mechanisms of floating and sinking in relation to both psychic structure and spatiality / Giorgos Lagoudakis suggests legal aspects of Floating Territories presenting specific archival cases along with the relative legal texts.

Floater #01 edited by Yannis Arvanitis, Elina Axioti, Yannis Papayannakis, Evi Sougara, Eleni Spiridaki, Yannikos Vassiloulis / Fall 2008.
Buoyant Entities: 'Objects', 'Zones' & 'Islanders' within the 'Harbour of Ideas'
Louisa Adam


How do these linguistic terms give buoyancy to the re-conceptualization of a place of regeneration in Andrejsala, Riga? What opportunity for renegotiation and creative cultural running room may this yield?

Andrejsala is an area in the heart of the harbour district in the city of Riga, the capital of Latvia, a country that has seen great political change during the last years. The early 1990s brought the end of the Soviet rule, it became member of the World Trade Organisation came in 1999 and the country was welcomed into the European Union in 2004. A national move towards globalisation is reflected in local development programmes such as the one currently under way in Andrejsala.

The former harbour area is a run-down district and funds have recently become available for its re-development. The development programme has invited the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) to be involved. The engineering company OVE ARUP & Partners Ltd and the landscape architecture office Inside Outside have completed the master plan of the Riga Port City project. The development company Daunrigas Attistibas Uznemums aims at 'the development of Riga centre towards the River Daugava to establish amultifunctional and high-quality urban territory in the area cleared from port operations'. [+]

'Harbour of Ideas' is the title given by the team of developers to the development project in Andrejsala. If the title 'Harbour of Ideas';, figuratively speaking, signals the reframing of the space, literally speaking, it will also signal the temporal and spatial comings and goings of cultural and economic activity. This correlates with the policies formulated by the developers and OMA for the urban fabric in this specific area: 'The plan of Riga Port City is mainly a tool, which does not dictate and does not create a predictable and explicit aggregation of applications. (...) It should make one sufficiently convinced about the features of a newly developed city port, in order to arouse the interest of the target audience. The main goal is that the plan should be indefinite and definite at the same time. The concept resembles a guessing game - predicting possible future options'. [+]


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