Coming into community
The National Museum's Architecture department becomes a queer and playful place during the triennale
Foto: MYCKET.
How can architecture affect our relationships with others? What kind of significance does community have in queer circles? How have ideas about community influenced architecture and urban development? What makes us feel safe in a space? These are amongst the question explored at The National Museums triennale exhibition.
Community and exclusion
The National Museum contribution to Oslo Architecture Triennale 2022 focuses on community and exclusion. The exhibition explores the past 70 years of how ideas about community have shaped architecture and urban development. Who has been included and who has been excluded? How is urban development perceived by queer people, feminists and other marginalised groups?
Post-war housing construction was mainly about housing and protecting the nuclear family. It was not until the 1960s and 1970s that more thought was given to inclusion and diversity. Selegrend Hesthaugen outside Bergen is an example of a project where the nuclear family was no longer the main focus. One-third of the homes were to be reserved for "housing-disadvantaged" groups.
Feminist perspective
In the 1970s and 1980s, cities were criticised for being designed largely for cars and for men. Through videos, drawings and archival material, the exhibition will show examples of the feminist perspective from architect and champion of lesbian rights Phyllis Birkby, among others. In the 1970s, Birkby travelled around the United States and held Women's Environmental Fantasy Workshops to help women explore what architecture might look like if more consideration were given to women's needs. Birkby also visited Norway.
"We work to raise awareness of how architecture and design can support differences and create a more tolerant world where there is room for everyone."
MYCKET
MYCKET. From the left: Katarina Bonnevier, Thérèse Kristiansson, Mariana Alves Silva. 2021. Photo: Myra Wippler. Courtesy of MYCKET.
The National Museum has invited the Swedish art and architecture collective MYCKET to create an installation that will transform parts of the National Museum - Architecture into a queer and playful place. The importance of community has been particularly important in queer circles. For MYCKET, the idea of finding one's community is something that can be linked to a time, a place and an architecture. Based on their own experiences and research on queer spaces and queer nightclub architecture, the group has for the past 10 years worked to create playful and interactive works and club concepts.
When the exhibition opens, you will experience an interactive installation that offers a journey into MYCKET's universe. With the idea that architecture is something to be used to support diversity, shape communities, and create a world where there is room for everyone, this is an installation that welcomes everybody!
