A-Z Community Advent: H is for Helsinki
Day 8 of Advent is all about Helsinki and our ‘Gathering Wastelands: Going Further Than Ruin Porn’ project.
Over the course EASA012 Pidgin Perfect delved into the reasons, both universal and unique, for the Wastelands of Europe, going further than obsessing over the superficial beauty of dereliction and ruin porn. The participants went ‘further than ruin porn’, discussing why architects, planners and communities should avoid clichéd responses and get people to think differently about their wastelands.
Pidgin Perfect worked with a select group of architecture students from across Europe examining wastelands, the effects they have on European cities and the impact of creative public engagement in the regeneration of wastelands. Following this, the participants experimented with creative engagement techniques, developing authentic responses to ‘stalled sites’ across the continent. Their activities involved mapping, dream collages and emotion masks as tools to generate an energy and excitement amongst the public for the future.
Gathering Wastelands culminated in two exhibition days at the World Design Capital 2012 Pavilion. Here, Pidgin Perfect, the participants, and guest lecturer, Jude Barber of Collective Architecture, collaborated with Demos Helsinki to present our compiled research, ideas and experiences of wastelands back to a global audience.
You can read more about the project here
