31 August 2013–31 March 2014 / Casco HQ
Please note the change of our opening hours: from Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00–18:00 hrs and by appointment.
Our current space – or “office” – is being transformed in collaboration with artist Nils Norman.
In place and in memory of our former grid structure by architects ifau and Jesko Fezer, which encouraged an exploration of the potential value in conflict and negotiation, the new set-up allows for a reworking of institutional behavior. It strengthens aspects of “cohabitation” and accommodates growing social needs for smaller and bigger gatherings, work space, library consulting with over 300 publications we have collected so far, cooking, and resting. Nevertheless, in this environment ever-changing aesthetic demands also have to be met. As such, the space is a “house of the commons.”
And please note that we are going to move to a more spacious and central location in the beginning of next year. So come by, and soon!
A note by Nils Norman:
The new office facilities address certain needs and desires expressed by Casco as it takes on an ambitious process in order to reshape its identity, function and space with a focus on spatial politics – renegotiating and deterritorializing modes of institutional behavior and how the space is used on a daily basis.
The collaboration’s main processual lines of articulation are embodied within a sense of a multifunctional and multipurpose playful design – these themes and objectives include the commons; collaboration and collective activity; communal cooking and eating; exhibition making; a library and study space; a place for discussion – formal and informal; a welcoming place to meet and drink coffee; a shop/exchange; and a family, inter-generational-friendly space.
These ambitious and long-distance visions will unfold as the space is used, inhabited, fermented and simmered. The design will be adaptive to the needs of visiting artists, practitioners and Casco’s staff. The design concept that we have developed tries to embody multiple and parallel desires and needs – balancing various contrasting functions. These are: privacy with a more open public and semi-public workspace; domesticity with the office; a neutral adaptable public presentation and exhibition space with a space of study, and so on.
In order to achieve this the space has been softly divided into four overlapping, inter-seeping spaces that are designed to afford as much fluidity and flow between spaces as possible.
