13/09/2024
Anyone wishing to dispose of one or more plaster models in the Cantons of Zurich and Ticino can participate by sending an email to [email protected] by 01.10.2024. The models will be collected free of charge from the location you indicate, then transferred to be used as part of the Gypsotechno performance during the opening of the Biennale Svizzera del Territorio in Lugano on October 4-5, 2024.
As part of the Biennale Svizzera del Territorio 2024, organized by the Istituto Internazionale di Architettura in Lugano, the Gypsotechno project is launching a call for the collection of architecture competition plaster models (Gipsmodelle) for their disposal and recycling. The call is open to anyone wishing to dispose of Gipsmodelle in their archives.
Disassembling, destroying, and fragmenting are integral parts of the reuse cycle, which can foreshadow optimistic scenarios of non-extractive architecture, despite their tumultuous nature. Gypsotechno is a collective destruction performance, with a crusher machine as its main actor, deliberately focused on the destructive phase of the material recycling process. The noise produced by the grinding of the material will be recorded and live-edited to create a soundscape as part of a festive ritual. The raw material is the Gipsmodell, a plaster model provided in Switzerland to all participants in open architecture competitions: a bulky body of gypsum that, except for the winner, is often kept archived in basements. These models are petrified, unfulfilled possible depictions of the future (a.k.a. competition entries). A call is being launched to gather models from those who wish to participate in this ritual.