'Support Structures'~ Workshop!

Celine Condorelli~ 'Support Structures' 

Celine Condorelli is an Italian/French architect who lives and works in London. She came this week to do a conference on her book 'Support Structures' as part of the NABA evening lectures programme.
'Support Structures' is a book based on the community project 'Eastside Projects', which is a creative platform that Celine created in Birmingham and has worked on for the past 8 years, since 2003. The book is a manual and reference to this project, revealing the story of it's creation and the process of how it was innitiated to the transformation to the important 'social body' it has become at present.

I found the lecture very interesting and inspiring because she discussed the importance of physical artistic spaces as a means to to create an 'architectual dialogue' with the local community. 'Eastside Projects' is an artist -run organisation and is an open platform for the community; it is a dynamic space that substains both art & culture, creating a structure and support interface for Birmingham. I love the idea of having a ground to work with, a physical base, a place where you can invite people to interact within, a space that is active within the community and that teaches and opens many possibilties...So the space is not only a building, but a political body, a collaboration of creative minds, a sense of collectivity...Public presence; art that functions and is active within socitety.

This is very much what I would like to do as an artist in the future, to create a space and very much perminant structure for open exploration. This would create a meeting point and space where you could innovate art and exchange knowledge. The wonderful thing about having a physical space is that as an artist organisation and collective, you can be rooted and part of the surrounding environment and most of all you can involve them in your work...It is an open door for everyone to come and dialogue with...

Eastside Projects, Birmingham.

After the lecture I approached Celine to ask her a few questions...I was curious as to why she had left Italy and decided to work in England, and also if she was interested in creating a similar platform in Milan. It was in this discussion that I found out that she was taking a workshop with the master class this week. so I asked if I could join it. And she said yes! So the next day I got to join her masters class, become integrated in this wonderful learning bubble and to work with her on her quest to find examples of 'Support Structures' in Milano...