at Arhitektuurikatel

15 - 21 th February 2016

The public discussion series will seek to present an understanding of architecture as an agent at the heart of civic debate establishing a sphere of visibility and publicity - explaining contemporary challenges of built environment and role of the architect in making structures public. 

In 1980s, the environmental protests both rejected the mass-industrialization of our local resources and galvanized Estonian independence movement. Analyzing the historical precedent as a starting point, the focus of the discussion will shift to contemporary developments. The talks will inquire into range of issues enabling connections between politics, civic processes, technological developments and built infrastructures in order to establish an understanding of the complex phenomena as space for architectural interventions to deal with its consequences.

The focus on the Phosphorite Debate 

With invited designers, planners, paleoecologist, environmental activists, geologists and representatives of the mining industry, the panel discussions would focus on society’s relationship to mining - how Estonia and Baltic Region relates to its mineral resources and industries involved. The round table discussions will trace the ideas relating society to its material space and resources. Both extremes of this debate - the condition of mining and not-mining - consist of their inherent material and immaterial infrastructures, technologies and strategic argumentation where visionary thinking meets provisionary control of the environment, while creating complex material, bureaucratic, political, civic conditions to enable or disable the process.


As a result, we seek to render out an operative image or a diagram charting those two opposites, the conditions of mining and not mining with the aim to understand their interrelations as specific parameters for possible further formulations of architectural agendas and ideas on modes of intervention possible in the region.

The Phosphorite Debate is a part of The Baltic Pavilion conceptual framework. 
The week-long series of talks is organized with support from The Estonian Academy of Arts Department of Architecture and Estonian Center of Architecture and funded by the Cultural Endowment Fund of Estonia. 



Schedule: 
Public events (all in english):

Monday 15th of February - 18.00 @ Arhitektuurikatel: 

Introduction to the Baltic Pavilion.
Introducing the framework of the week
Presentations by Baltic Pavilion Curatorial Team



Wednesday 17th of February - 19.30 @ Arhitektuurikatel : 

Sensing the environmental impact
Presentations by Baltic Pavilion Curatorial Team with Agata Marzecova (paleoecologist), Maroš Krivy (urbanist), TBC 



Saturday 20th of February - 11.00 @ Arhitektuurikatel: 

 
The Phosphorite Debate:
What speaks for mining?

Presentations by invited designers, geologists and representatives of the mining industry and legislation (TBC)
Followed by an open ended discussion among all participants. 



Sunday 21st of February - 12.00 @ Arhitektuurikatel: 

 
The Phosphorite Debate:
What speaks against mining? 

Presentations by invited activists, environmentalists and representatives of the legislation (TBC)
Followed by an open ended discussion among all participants.