raumlabor » The Built, The Unbuilt and The Unbuildable

The Built, The Unbuilt and The Unbuildable

Fiona Boundy (Project director), Tom Cretton

Téléinternetcafé, La Bonneterie, No purpose collectiv, Andrea Spreafico & Matteo Fargion, Jennifer Aksu & Kerem Halbrecht, Studio Chehade

Supported by Milton Keynes council

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In Autumn 2019, Milton Keynes experiences the inaugural ‘A Festival of Creative Urban Living’ – a new biennial art, design and architecture festival for the city.

Commissioned by Milton Keynes Council, the first edition is developed, shaped and co-curated by raumlaborberlin.

The inaugural Festival of Creative Urban Living runs from 26 September till 13 October 2019. It is titled „the built, the unbuilt and the unbuildable“. Through a free, public programme of new commissions, exhibitions, conferences and associated programs, and bringing together artists, architects, designers, urban planners, thinkers, creatives and many others, the Festival asks and explores the question ‘how do we live well in cities – now and in the future?’ Within this macro exploration, the Festival addresses the micro – with a critical revision of MK’s urban planning ideals, opening up debate and discussion concerning the founding design principles of the city and their relevance or insignificance to the 21st Century.

Milton Keynes is one of the UK’s most prominent examples of the “New Towns Movement” of the 60’s. It is the largest of the UK New Towns and arguably the most successful. In contrast to many other New Towns, MK was heavily influenced by Ebenezer Howard’s “Garden City” movement; it is very green, combining extensive tree-lined boulevards and vistas with modernist architecture, urban spaces and a radically segregated traffic system.

MIDSUMMER BOULEVARD: THE FESTIVAL SITE

The Festival is housed in a series of temporary structures, located on Midsummer Boulevard East – the central spine of MK’s infamous grid road system. These new ‘spaces’ provide a hub and a visual focal point for the Festival. The location provides an opportunity to engage Milton Keynes’ citizens and wider audiences in creating prospective plans for the future of the city-centre and re-designing the public realm. raumlaborberlin is working on a multidisciplinary event with local associations, organisations and community groups to explore MK’s current urban reality and the city’s future prospects.

To facilitate the interaction there is 1/ a meeting place 2/ Beds united, a localised air bnb connecting locals and visitors with the vast suburbs of MK 3/ a boulevard broadcast 4/ a bike school 5/ a utopia station 6/ a utopian laundromat

1 / MEETING PLACE

The Meeting Place offers everyone a place to sit, enjoy a refreshment and take part in a program of music, films, performances, talks, workshops, demonstrations, communal meals, classes and discussions – exploring the Festival’s theme of ‘Built, Unbuilt and Unbuildable’ and celebrating MK’s creative spirit. With a varied and energetic programme, The Meeting Place aims to celebrate and sow the seed for future creative urban living.

©studiostagg

2 / BEDS UNITED // THE UNBUILT

by raumlaborberlin, Ursula Wright & Rachel Wright, Team Tango

The Beds United project brings together Citizen Hosts from all over Milton Keynes with visitors and other locals wanting to experience the vast suburbs of MK. Each host is offering a stay in their homes for free as part of the festival, taking their guest on a journey in their part of the city or sharing food and time together.

the beds united reception pavilion designed by Team Tango (©studiostagg)

Pauline and Nic in Downs Barn (©Karen Kodish)

Sam, Han, Iris (Team Tango) and Moira in Downs Barn (©Karen Kodish)

Diane, Eric and Sonia in Stony Stratford (©Karen Kodish)

Moira and Lea in Downs Barn (©Karen Kodish)

Beds United Gallery

3 / BOULEVARD BROADCAST

Where do we go from here? by No Purpose collective (NL/IT/GB/South Korea) Jack Bardrell, Heejung Kim and Daniele Valentino

The Boulevard Broadcast is a mobile radio station that has the unique ability to pick up signals from the future and broadcast to the present. As it cycles up and down the boulevard, the antenna structure swaying in the air, the radio will host workshops with different communities to create actional narratives about future living in Milton Keynes. These stories will be broadcast in a daily radio show. At the end of the festival we propose a parade, a moment in which these actions can be lived out in reality.All the Boulevard Broadcast Programs on Mixcloud

Boulevard Broadcast Website

©studiostagg

4 / BIKE SCHOOL

by raumlaborberlin, Gonzague Lacombe & Emily Cheshire,
with Rutland cycling, Electric Pedals, Pimp my ride, Bmx academy, Mk guided cycle tour

MK is the perfect bike city – with the Redway network allowing you to pretty much go anywhere in MK by bike or foot without ever having to see, hear or smell a car. Bike School is a celebration of all things bike. With a specially designed bike ramp, dedicated bike repair and maintenance team and an energetic, cycle themed programme.

©studiostagg

5 / UTOPIA STATION

by raumlaborberlin (Ashmi Mridul, Sarah Bovelett, James Bromley, Nick Green, Lukas Hamilcaro) & téléinternet café ( Andreas Kraut, Urs Kumberger, Tino Imsirovic )

The Festival will be housed in a series of temporary structures, located on Midsummer Boulevard East – the central spine of MK’s infamous grid road system. These new ‘spaces’ will provide a hub and a visual focal point for the Festival. The location and a planned regeneration of Midsummer Boulevard East will also provide an opportunity to engage Milton Keynes’ citizens and wider audiences in creating prospective plans for the future of the city-centre and re-designing the public realm. raumlaborberlin is working on a multidisciplinary event and will be working with local associations, organisations and community groups to explore MK’s current urban reality and the city’s future prospects. This will include Beds United, a localised air bnb connecting locals and visitors with the vast suburbs of MK, a Utopia Station and a Bike School.

©studiostagg

graphic documentation

6 / UTOPIAN LAUNDROMAT

by La Bonneterie (BE) Pascal Lazarus, Amandine Lamour, Benjamin Blacken, Auguste Paillard, Florine Cruel, Alex Lambert, Mirant Jane Wall

An installation in human scale which proposes a different way to wash, dry, and recycle water. The masterpiece is a mechanism of 3 connected watersheds. The water runs from the clean to the dirty, from the top to the bottom. The laundry moves in the opposite direction, from bottom to top, immersed in the different watersheds.

In the middle of this revolutionary mechanical system is a pub, a common space, a soft detergent workshop, a filters research space, an open-mic scene. It is a place for us all to combine business with pleasure. It harmonizes the needs of nature with the needs of being human.

©studiostagg

7 /GOODMORNING MILTON KEYNES! OH… IT’S AFTERNOON

by Spreafico Eckly with Matteo Fargion (IT/NO)

A new composition for Milton Keynes is played out in different locations within the Festival campus and along Midsummer Boulevard, in a unique collaboration between composers Spreafico Eckley and Matteo Fargion, and the brass bands of MK.

7 / LIBRARY OF STRUCTURES

by Invisible Playground (ISR/TUR)

Some things cannot be built. Like joy. Like tearing something down that took really long to built. Destruction can be fascinating because the time consuming efforts of planning, building, working hard on the best of all solutions are rendered obsolete – in the blink of an eye. Invisible playgrounds brought its library of structures to Milton Keynes, 72 wooden one-meter-long sticks and 72 perforated plastic balls the size of a golf ball.

At the end of the festival day there is a participatory unbuilding ceremony.