Paul Segers, Stealth Pavilion, 2013. Aluminum, wood, steel. Courtesy of the Artist. Photo credit: Peter Cox
A “charrette” is often utilized in design processes as a format to collaboratively workshop solutions, generated by a group of creatives: artists, architects, designers. In this new AGA exhibition series, the format of the “charrette” is used as a strategy to invert the traditional exhibition process, transforming the gallery into a place of idea formation and generation, a place for the visualization of design questions, rather than for the presentation of finalized products.
Charrette Roulette: Exposed Collaborative Design Practices will consist of three thematically related parts that will be presented consecutively in one gallery space from May 19, 2015 to April 2016. This space will function as a workshop and creation site, and will expose the processes of design thinking and problem-solving and the evolution of ideas over time. The space will be hosted and activated by guest artists and designers who will also facilitate access for community groups, local design organizations and members of the public.
Each version of the Charrette Roulette will leave materials and content behind, which can then be incorporated, modified, rejected or assimilated into the next Charrette Roulette project. This process of resource assessment and potential re-use, reflects the reality of contemporary designers, who are given a set of parameters and often work with what is available at hand. Over time, the exhibition space will be inhabited by the cumulative traces of these intensified, collaborative design processes.
Come experience design in process.
Building is the theme of the first Charrette Roulette. Lead artist Paul Segers in collaboration with local designers Oliver Apt. present THE UNLIMITED DREAM COMPANY.
THE UNLIMITED DREAM COMPANY
The title of this project is respectfully borrowed from a novel by the late J.G. Ballard, in which a pilot crashes a small plane into the Themes at the town of Shepperton. After the pilot surfaces, strange things start happening in Shepperton and the line between dreams and reality blurs more and more every day.
In a similar way I will be ‘crashing’ into Edmonton to start a company in the gallery space called ‘The Unlimited Dream Company’.
People that visit the office will be questioned about their dreams and nightmares and other things that concern them or excite them in the turbulent year 2015.
This information will be recorded, analyzed and transformed into a product by our expert staff. The Unlimited Dream Company specializes in customized, tailor-fit products that can be used in relation to these dreams and nightmares. The products are catalysts, their use is symbolic and possibly ritual in essence, allowing the users to confront their deepest wishes and fears. The staff of the Unlimited Dream Company will not just prescribe the right use of the product, but will also offer help in specialized sessions of catharsis. The Unlimited Dream Company can work the scales, whether you have a small personal problem or you’re envisioning global terror, The Unlimited Dream Company will find a solution to deal with your dreams and demons.
Paul Segers is a visual artist working in the field of sculpture, public installation and urban design. His work often deals with the tensions between history and progress in a hyper- technological age, mobility and the role of the machine in society. Segers graduated at the sculpture department of the academy of fine arts in 's- Hertogenbosch in 2000, and his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Segers has been supported by grants from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, and the BKKC. Segers is an instructor of 3-D Visual Research at the Academy of Fine Art in Breda and 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. He is the initiator and organizer of the New Brabant Front (NBF), an international collective of visual artists and designers.
Segers is an instructor of 3-D Visual Research at the Academy of Fine Art in Breda and 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. He is a core member of the New Brabant Front (NBF), an international collective of visual artists and designers.
Oliver Apt. is an urban woodworking company that handcrafts functional spaces and home products out of their downtown studio in Edmonton. The Oliver Apt. story began with a design-minded carpenter, Landon Schedler, creating furniture and homeware to beautify, simplify, and organize his apartment in the Oliver community. Oliver Apt. handcrafted goods began to gain traction, and alongside a team of trusted and skilled designers and carpenters, Oliver Apt. began to transform custom spaces throughout the core of the city. Oliver Apt. has since grown into a passionate, multi-talented woodworking team that proudly creates beautiful, functional products and spaces, often collaborating with other talented designers and entrepreneurs throughout Canada.
