Performa has selected the office of Christoph A. Kumpusch, Forward Slash ( / ) ARCHITEKTUR, as the winner of the competition to design the Performa 15 Hub. Held in New York City, Performa is a Biennale dedicated to live performance across artistic disciplines. This year’s Biennial, Performa 15, will take place November 1 -22, and the Performa Hub serves as the biennial's headquarters, offering a venue for special performances, screenings, panel discussions, artists’ seminars, a lounge, a shop and a visitor information center. Read more about the winning entry and Performa after the break.
The Hub was first launched as a commission in 2009, by Performa and Markus Miessen of Studio Miessen. Selected from among 12 finalists including The Bittertang Farm, Collective—LOK, CODA, Formlessfinder, HAO, Most likely, NHDM, Only if, and Zeller & Moye; by a jury including Amale Andraos (WORKac), Steven Holl (Steven Holl Architects), Bjarke Ingels (BIG) and Charles Renfro (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Forward Slash ( / ) ARCHITEKTUR will build their installation at 47 Walker Street in downtown Manhattan. Peforma’s manifesto of drawing in public participation is realized in their vision for the hub, with different spaces shifting to create arrangements for various activities.
The design for the Hub was informed by a reversal of typical performance typology. Backstage becomes audience, audience becomes performance and more, as the various elements that make up performing, performance and performed architecture remain in constant adjustment and adaptation. The project incorporates six components: the stage, curtain, set, audience, light and performer. By experimenting with these components, new, dynamic relationships in live performance are brought about.
“Since Performa 09, Performa has had a strong architectural component, and the Hub has been the experimental locus for architecture that works as backdrop and stage, think-tank and gathering place for the arts community in New York,” says RoseLee Goldberg, founding director and curator of Performa. “The competition process has allowed us to get closer to those architects who think about such activated architecture all the time. We’re thrilled to work with Christoph and his team on a space whose shape and function will necessarily change hour by hour."
Learn more about the upcoming event here.
