My three months at Studio Olafur Eliasson as a part of the special team was mainly focused on gathering and expanding research for the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale, which was the most important architecture biennale in the world. Curated by Hashim Sarkis, Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, the Biennale reconsidered “How will we live together?” as its theme, working together with experts around the world (referred as co-designers): curator, activist, economist, as well as global spatial practitioners. Having worked in various contexts and culture through the interdisciplinary collaborations already happening at MIT Architecture and through many other globally set research and design internships I have had through MISTI, it was not hard to connect various ideas that the co-designers were coming up with, relate and understand where they were coming from, and thus to expand upon them.
Berlin is known to be one of the cities that has attracted various international artists communities, and it is almost impossible not to feel the wonderful energy of such community! This translated to the atmosphere in my studio internship. Many of the people in the studio go home at reasonable hours and continue with their own independent art practices (or just any other project of their own). This restores my faith that studio practices can be positive and can actually encourage people’s personal growth –in the architecture world of the US this set up is not at all common. The studio also provided in-house cooked family style lunch, when we got to chat with people from other floors / departments. The lunch was very much based on the kitchen team experiments and was sourced from a farm close to Berlin, consistent to the lifestyle and the message the Studio wants to deliver on being more critical and moving towards sustainability, and this just shows that the whole experimentation happens on many levels in various different teams as well. (PS I requested to shadow the kitchen team on my final day!)
Working among various international artists with progressive mindsets and diverse lifestyles was a unique experience and I am extremely grateful to be part of such a community. Here, everything seems to be very dynamic and no one tries to fit into certain image of how to live. No one compartmentalizes their life in a ‘work-life balance’ model because most people follow their passion.
