recycled from Guido Radig / CC BY SAcommons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:100_Cent_or_more.JPG

recycled from N.A.R.A USA / Public DomainNational Archives Identifier 535587

recycled from schwarzplan.eu / CC BY SA Open Street Map

Excess Catalyser Helsinki

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“Over 100 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in the EU.”

European Commission

“The things are there, produced with resources and energy. Why demolish them with more energy […]?”

translated from www.remida.de

“The leftover space is not detached […] it is embedded within, or just steps away from the urban mainstream space”

Greening as an Urban Design Metaphor: Looking for the city’s soul in leftover spaces by A. Akkerman and A.F. Cornfeld

“Artists here have been going along with the system, where you have to produce your work before you can apply for an exhibition. Only in the end, you will know, whether you get the grant to pay for the material, the rent and all the other expenses.“

Sound Artist from Helsinki *

*this and all following artists’ quotes are taken from qualitative interviews conducted by the author of this proposal

Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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phaseal development

physicalinfrastructure

infrastructural offers shaped by participation

upcoming infrastructuraloffers developed by citizens’initiative or in participatory workshops

frequent complements

Food

artists and citizensjoin

form acreative society

e.g. supermarket

excess origin results

excessive

resource provider

Material

e.g. wood industry

e.g. communal dinner

e.g. mobile exhibition pavilion

e.g. communalart café

e.g. performance site

e.g. temporary cinema

Space

e.g. disused motorway undercroft

excesscatalyserhelsinki

urban interweaver

crea

tivity

trig

ger

background continuous to be initiated

changing event calender

ConceptExcess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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The Excess Catalyser Helsinki centres the art production and the excessive resources of the city.

Instead of creating an autonomous international exhibition space such as the typical museum, it strengthens the local art scene by inter-weaving it with the urban fabric. Rather than showing exclusive art to an exclusive audience, it questions the dichotomy between artists and non-artists and asks for everyone’s actual participation.

This is achieved on different levels. First of all, the concept links art to excess and thereby brings up the issue of recycling, an urban up-to-date topic, which fits very well into Finland, where people have a heightened awareness of sustainability.

The Excess Catalyser supports the local artists by providing them with the city’s excess materials, such as industrial scraps, stage props, fair and event leftovers of all sorts, surplus food and unused free spaces. It furthermore equips artists with the proper tools to make use of the different types of excess.

Additionally the Excess Catalyser utilizes excess to interweave the local art scene with the rest of society, by creating a platform on the one hand and by enabling everyone to explore artistry on the other hand. The harbour site itself becomes a common place; e.g. by providing a kitchen to gather together for a self-cooked meal of excess food, while watching an art film or exchanging ideas, by offering inside and outside event space for all sorts of art and excess related happenings or by opening its workshops, such as the carpentry, to everyone. Making most of the proposal’s facilities and resources accessible to everyone is one the key strategies of the concept, as well as there is a changing and participative programme to actively engage people. Both the open facilities as well as the programme encourage the exchange between artists and other people and invite the citizens of Helsinki to get involved in the act of recycling. Thereby creativity is triggered, which is implicit in the nature of recycling itself. In the context of an art production, which cannot be defined by a particular purpose, it opens up a playground for any type of experiment. It creates a heterotopia, a term used by Foucault to describe a place and space that functions in non-hegemonic conditions.

The idea of creating a sphere of natural exchange and freedom, where art can exist without a museum’s or gallery’s rules and limits, and where everyone is encouraged to think out of the square, finds it’s clearest expression in the Excess Residence Programme. It is open to everyone in equal measure, its curator process is handed over to the diverse public and its only rule is, to somehow work with the on-site excess.

The whole concept of the Excess Catalyser is rounded off by its mapping tool. This tool visualizes how the Catalyser is interwoven with its urban surroundings and reflects the activity back into town. It shows the material flows, as well as the artist flows, e.g. exhibition places or event dates, and the expansion of the Catalyser Programme itself. Local artists can be seen as an excessive resource themselves – many of them live off unemployment aid, do not have access to exhibition spaces, there is no art market in Helsinki as in New York or London, yet there is plenty of activity but only known to a small audience. Thus the proposal becomes all about excess dynamics. It catalyses excess into urban action. The potential of excess material – antithetical to our throwaway society – is already shown in the simple act of storing it. This is, where the communal project begins and will then develop and flower with everyone’s participation.

“I really like your idea. […] Because also we have excess artists, we have too many artists. So it would be a place for people who won’t get to the institutional.”

Visual and Performance Artist from Helsinki

Excess Catalyser Helsinki

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/ The Next Helsinki

start future extensions festival area e.g. urban interventions

relation to city and market hall / park / converted terminal

1:50000 m 50 100 250

urban range

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Excess Catalyser / The Next Helsinki The Catalyser Merges with the City

“With the Guggenheim, it’s like being a jazz musician in Siberia, you are in the wrong place, you are in the wrong time, you know, there is something very alien in their discourse.”

Visual and Performance Artist from Helsinki

“When I go and look at art, I look at how people are surviving in a situation. I think that is always the most interesting thing, even in an exhibition where you actually don’t see the artist, you ask yourself, how did she or he survive the question of this space? So yeah, and I don’t think solving this issue is anymore interesting if you are an educated artist or not.”

Visual and Performance Artist from Helsinki

content of the exemplary monthly programme on the next page including the specified room programme

Programme Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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Res

iden

cyP

artic

ipan

ts a

re a

sked

to

som

ehow

wor

k w

ith t

he o

n-si

te e

xces

s an

d pr

esen

t th

eir

wor

k in

any

for

m a

t le

ast

once

dur

ing

thei

r st

ay. E

very

one

is w

elco

me

to a

pply

(la

yper

-so

ns, e

duca

ted

artis

ts, l

ocal

s, in

tern

atio

nal

appl

ican

ts e

tc.)

. App

lican

ts a

re a

sked

to

tell

som

ethi

ng a

bout

the

mse

lves

dig

itally

. An

expe

rimen

tal c

urat

or p

roce

ss w

ill ha

nd o

ver

the

deci

sion

to

a di

ff er

ent

citiz

en e

ach

time.

T

hose

dec

isio

n-m

aker

s in

tur

n ar

e se

lect

-ed

by

a sh

ot o

f so

cial

div

ersi

ty t

o al

low

a

dive

rse

outc

ome

(see

Bou

rdie

u et

al.)

. The

re

side

ncy’

s du

ratio

n la

sts

from

1 t

o 3

mon

th.

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alog

ue C

ore

A C

atal

ogue

Cor

e in

form

s ab

out

the

netw

ork

of t

he C

atal

yser

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show

s th

e up

com

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mat

eria

l fl o

ws

– in

clud

ing

a m

ap

of u

nuse

d /

non-

spac

es a

nd a

list

of

the

curr

ently

sto

red

exce

ss m

ater

ials

. Als

o it

give

s ar

tists

the

opp

ortu

nity

to

anno

unce

ev

ents

or

post

the

ir ar

t sp

aces

pub

licly

and

di

gita

lly p

ublis

hes

the

even

t ca

lend

ar o

f th

e C

atal

yser

itse

lf.

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dio

spac

eT

here

is t

he o

ppor

tuni

ty t

o co

nver

t so

me

of

the

form

er t

erm

inal

spa

ce in

to f

ree

stud

ios

(app

rox.

40

0m

2 ). T

hey

are

tem

pora

rily

give

n to

art

ists

, fro

m 6

to

12 m

onth

, und

er

the

cond

ition

tha

t th

e us

ers

deve

lop

the

Cat

alys

er’s

spa

ce f

urth

er.

Wor

ksho

ps /

wor

k sp

aces

Pub

lic f

acilit

ies

for

art

and

recy

cle

wor

k w

ith

expe

rt s

uppo

rt, e

.g. w

ood,

met

al a

nd s

tone

w

orks

hops

, as

wel

l as

quie

t ro

oms.

Ope

n ev

ery

day,

tho

ugh

resi

dent

s, a

rtis

ts, s

ocia

l an

d cu

ltura

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titut

ions

are

prio

ritiz

ed.

e.g.

Too

l kit

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r ur

ban

actio

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dire

ctly

initi

ated

by

citi-

zens

or

b) b

y th

e C

atal

yser

and

des

igne

d in

a

publ

ic w

orks

hop

Com

mun

al K

itch

enop

en t

o re

side

nts,

as

wel

l as

for

ever

yone

el

se; c

omm

erci

al u

se e

xclu

ded.

Exh

ibit

ion

/ ev

ent

spac

eIn

side

and

out

side

exh

ibiti

on a

nd e

vent

sp

ace.

Som

e ro

oms

are

espe

cial

ly b

uilt

for

thes

e pu

rpos

es, b

ut in

gen

eral

any

pla

ce u

s-ab

le b

elon

ging

to

the

Cat

alys

er’s

site

mig

ht

be a

dopt

ed.

e.g.

Mob

ile p

avili

ons

cons

istin

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recy

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mat

eria

ls fo

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mpo

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ur

ban

exhi

bitio

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cree

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s an

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a) in

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irect

ly b

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or

b) b

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atal

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and

col

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ivel

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ilt b

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in a

w

orks

hop

Exc

essi

ve R

esou

rce

Col

lect

ion

Food

sur

plus

es, s

crap

mat

eria

ls a

nd u

nuse

d/no

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aces

, tha

t are

col

lect

ed a

nd c

atal

ogue

d th

roug

h di

ff er

ent

colla

bora

tions

, e.

g.

with

lo

cal s

uper

mar

kets

, bu

sine

sses

or

the

city

’s

plan

ning

dep

artm

ent

and

that

are

giv

en t

o ev

eryo

ne

inte

rest

ed

for

non

com

mer

cial

pu

rpos

es, b

ut e

spec

ially

art

istic

pro

ject

s.

SHORT STORIES FEBRUARY

MO

1

OP

EN

ST

UD

IOS

/ p

erfo

rman

ces

and

exhi

biti

on

TUE

2

WED

3W

EE

KLY

CO

MM

UN

AL

CO

OK

ING

: 6

PM

THU

4

FRI

5LE

CT

UR

E S

ER

IES

/ g

reec

e re

cycl

ing

euro

pe

SAT

6W

OR

KS

HO

P /

bui

ld y

our

own

scra

p bo

at!

: 10

AM

SUN

7

MO

8re

serv

ed f

or p

rim

ary

scho

ol w

orks

hop

TUE

9

WED

10

WE

EK

LY C

OM

MU

NA

L C

OO

KIN

G :

6 P

M

THU

11

FRI

12

UR

BA

N A

CT

ION

/ c

all f

or id

eas

hom

eles

s sh

elte

r : 8

PM

SAT

13

RE

SID

EN

CY

/ e

xhib

itio

n op

enin

g : 6

.30

PM

SUN

14

FLE

A M

AR

KE

T 2

.0 /

tra

de o

r up

date

you

r ol

d tr

easu

res

MO

15

TUE

16

RE

SID

EN

CY

/ c

urat

or a

nnou

ncem

ent

: 10

PM

WED

17

AN

NU

AL

EX

CE

ST

IVA

L /

exhi

biti

on o

peni

ng :

8 P

M

/

daily

wor

ksho

ps :

10 A

M –

10

PM

/

daily

lect

ures

: 13

PM

- 1

5 P

M

CONTINUOUS STORY

Fix

ed in

fras

truc

tura

l off

ers

that

are

sha

ped

by a

ctua

l par

tici

pati

on.

STORIES TO BE TOLD

Upc

omin

g in

fras

truc

tura

l off

ers,

de

velo

ped

by c

itiz

ens’

init

iati

ve o

r in

par

tici

pato

ry w

orks

hops

.

BACKGROUND STORY

The

phy

sica

l fra

mew

ork

whi

ch is

pro

vide

d ri

ght

from

the

sta

rt.

to b

e co

ntin

ued…

resi

denc

yap

artm

ents

stora

geat

elier

sto

ol kit

sm

obile

pav

ilions

cata

logu

e co

re /

co

mm

unal

kitc

hen

wor

k sp

aces

wor

ksho

ps

OVERVIEW

Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

“Freedom – it's important, that art goes first, the gallery space is not the star. When someone comes to this place, he or she can expect something nice and weird going on.”

Installation and Sculpture Artist from Helsinki

The Catalyser Building consists of different production facilities. Three main axes open the building to different facets of the city and the adjacent converted terminal hall, each of the three main façades is slightly dented to emphasize the welcoming posture. From the ground floor communal café to the top floor apartments the house becomes more and more introverted.

Urban activity, like street musicians or constructions sites, generally attracts more attention than a rigid piece of architecture thus lowering barriers.

The translucent façade transmits the inner activity to the outside in the darker seasons and during evenings.

The Catalyser BuildingExcess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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Work Spaces

Events

Administration

Circulation / Facilities

Residency Apartments

Communal Kitchen/Café

Workshops

ground floor

first floor

second floor

1:5000 m 5 10 25

Schematic Plans Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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“There are a lot of art things go-ing on in Helsinki, like this little Pop Up Place. It's just, that they are all spread out and it's hard to know about them. An app, for example, would be great, for tourists, but as well for locals.”

Filmmaker from Helsinki

The centre of the Catalyser Building is occupied by the catalogue – consisting of a Y-shaped table. An inserted town map and tablet computers, as well as some recycled information boards from the downsized Makasiini Terminal visualise the material, art and spatial flows of the city. (see also Programme on page 9)

Catalogue CoreExcess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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“A place, offering free studios and exhibition space, without the typical rules, that would be a dream come true.”

Installation and Sculpture Artist from Helsinki

“We are missing something from the place [the harbour]. So it would be really nice if we would be celebrating the fact, that people want to do stuff in Helsinki. Celebrating the activity.”

Visual and Performance Artist from Helsinki

Food and Material Storage as permanent usage

e.g. Studios, Makasiini Terminal (seasonal) on demand

e.g. Tool Kits for Urban Actions, Mobile Exhibition Pavilions by citizen initiative or participatory workshops

Participatory Drawers /Makasiini Terminal

Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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1

2

3

7

4

8, 16

10

9

6

11

12

13

14

15

17

5

1 stair table chairs from recycled office materials by refunk.nl2 communal cooking with leftovers by slowfoodyouth.de3 transparent facade for sedus stoll ag by ludloffludloff.de4 quote by jan gehl, gehlarchitects.com5 ‘few phoenix get lost in the water’ by thilo frank for provinz.li6 scrap material supply for social/art projects by hanseatische-materialverwaltung.de7 ‘presence and production’ in gramsci monument, a public space by thomas hirschhorn8 temporary hotel rooms shabbyshabby by raumlabor.net9 remida: creative recycling centres for children and youth by remidawa.com

10 urban arts festival by centre for art and urbanistics, zku-berlin.org11 art residency program in former railway depots by zku berlin12 remida-day celebrating creative scrap recycling by remida.org13 artwork using sponsored silicon by helsinki based artist erikaerre.com 14 ‘pleinmuseum’ mobile and continually changing exhibition pavilion by meetanne.com 15 participatory mapping of abandoned places by leerstandsmelder.de16 ‘folly for a flyover’ disused motorway undercroft temporarily transformed into a host space by assemblestudio.co.uk 17 communal workshop in the children, culture and neighbourhood centre by regenbogenfabrik.de

0 m 10 20 501:500

images on next page

Area PlanExcess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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“All forms of human activity appeared to be of major inter-est [...]. Considerable interest was observed in both the or-dinary [...] – children at play, newlyweds on their way from the photographers, or merely people walking by – and in the more unusual instance – the artist with the easel, the street musician with his guitar, street painters in action, and other large and small events.It was obvious that human activities [...] constituted the area’s main attraction.”

1

2

3

7

8

9

4

6 12

13

10

11

14

15

16

175

More e.g.’s! Excess Catalyser Helsinki / The Next Helsinki

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