Kikinda 2022

During the Jimbolia LTT, partner students and teachers, grouped in specialized transnational research teams, sought to enhance the competition brief by adding comprehensive meaning to a site marked by the absence of almost all traces of the former tile and brick making industrial facilities. In contrast to the situation already observed in Jimbolia, Kikinda presents itself as a completely different case study. If Jimbolia represents absence through disappearance, Kikinda represents presence through the careful and meaningful repurposing of old industrial structures. During the two week summer school participating students and teachers will use the former Bohn tile factory in Kikinda, as their base camp, learning of its four decade long  transformation into the now famous Terra Center for Terracotta Arts ( https://terra.rs/en/ ), while using its incredible structures and spaces as backdrop for the Think Brick exhibition buildup. The  second summer school is designed around several workshops whose aim is to explore various communication strategies needed in the early stages of the implementation of  community oriented architecture projects. 

The Kikinda summer school thus emphasizes the final teaching module (Implementation) while also further expanding the previous two, addressed in our first LTT in Jimbolia (Critical Thinking and Exploration). These three pedagogical modules offer the necessary means to approach the problem statement of the project – the need to understand and redefine a multinational cultural area alongside the borders between RO, HU, RS. as well as the need for learners (future young professionals) to overcome their role of simple service providers for public or private enterprises and more frequently take on the role of active critical thinkers that formulate problems and help initiate projects alongside authorities or private bodies.

As in Jimbolia, the summer school will be divided into two main parts. During the first three days participants will be acquainted with the main city of the region, Novi Sad, currently serving as European Capital of Culture.  For the next ten days, student teams will explore Kikinda, the Terra Studio and Museum ( https://terra.rs/en/ ), and work on their design for the final exhibition. New exploration tools will be introduced by UBB (Qualitative methods for architects)  and FAUT (Digital mapping) teams. The Artistic approach tested in Jimbolia by the DEB and BME teams will be focused here on the spatial as well as symbolic qualities of the old factory (The Terra Studio). Susko will provide participants with the geographical understanding of the transborder relations between Jimbolia and Kikinda. 

In its second part of the summer school the UAUIM and UBB  teams will act as main producers of the Triplex Confinium Exhibition. Lectures on curatorial strategies, and exhibition design will be given by architects with international expertise with the topic. Emphasis will be placed on community consultation, as local actors from both Jimbolia and Kikinda will be invited to take part in the debates surrounding the competition outcomes. During its final days the exhibition will be built in the compound of the Terra studio. The exhibition will highlight the Think Brick projects, the Jimbolia LTT1 research, while also reinterpreting several spatial conditions within the  Terra Studio site.  The summer school will conclude with the opening of the exhibition, as well as with the award ceremony for our Think Brick competition..

Because  planned activities are a conclusion to our previous research in Jimbolia, applicants that have taken part in our Jimbolia summer school,  have priority in the selection process.

The total duration of the summer-school is 14 days.

Friday, 01.04 — Ceremonial hall at the Faculty of Technical Sciences

Arrival

16:00 – 18:00 — Participation welcome – Bojan Tepavcevic (UNS) + Cristian Blidariu and Oana Simionescu (FAUT)

Saturday, 02.04 — Rektorat UNS

10:00 – 12:00 — Lecture: A story about Novi Sad – Aleksandar Bede

12:00 – 13:00 — Lunch

13:00 – 18:00 — Novi Sad city tour with Aleksandar Bede

Sunday, 03.04 — Rektorat UNS

10:00 – 13:00 — Think Brick Competition Jury Lectures

13:00 – 14:00 — Lunch

14:00 – 19:00 — Departure to Kikinda /// UNS – Think Brick, Say Clay!

Monday, 04.04 & Tuesday 05.04 — Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, the fifth floor, room 517

10:00 – 13:00 — BME, DEB, SUSKO, FAUT workshops in Kikinda /// UNS workshop in Novi Sad

13:00 – 14:00 — Lunch

14:00 – 19:00 — BME, DEB, SUSKO, FAUT workshops in Kikinda /// UNS workshop in Novi Sad

Wednesday, 06.04 & Thursday 07.04 — Terra Art Camp

10:00 – 13:00 — BME, DEB, SUSKO, FAUT, UNS workshops in Kikinda 

13:00 – 14:00 — Lunch

14:00 – 19:00 — BME, DEB, SUSKO, FAUT, UNS workshops in Kikinda 

Friday, 08.04 — Terra Art Camp

10:00 – 13:00 — BME, DEB, SUSKO, FAUT, UNS workshops in Kikinda 

13:00 – 14:00 — Lunch

14:00 – 19:00 — UAUIM&UBB workshop

Saturday, 09.04, Sunday 10.04, Monday 11.04, Tuesday 12.04, Wednesday 13.04 — Terra Art Camp

10:00 – 13:00 — UAUIM&UBB workshop

13:00 – 14:00 — Lunch

14:00 – 19:00 — UAUIM&UBB workshop

Thursday, 14.04 — Terra Art Camp

14:00 – 19:00 — Competition Awards ceremony, Exhibition Vernissage — TC Multiplier Event

Note: The structure of the schedule and its content might change due to the Covid-19 situation. Please follow www.triplex-confinium.eu for the latest version of the program.

W1 UNS  Think Brick – Say Clay

4-6 students

Marko Jovanović and Marko Vučić

The workshop “Think Brick – Say Clay” offers students the opportunity to dive into the field of integrated design approach. This approach combines both the computational design and fabrication using industrial robots. The design theme will be a non-traditional interpretation of ornament design in the form of clay relief panels. The focus will be on the fabrication of the molds for those panels to be used in wall tiling. 

The workshop consists of several phases – design of relief clay panels; design of molds for the panels; preparation of the code for robotic fabrication; robotic fabrication of molds out of Styrofoam; forming the clay according to prior molds; air-drying and baking the panels. 

Students should bring their laptops.

W2 DEB The hidden spaces

4-8 students

Tamás Szentirmai, János Vági, Miklós János Boros

The summer school will be held in Studio Terra, a former roof tile factory, an old industrial-style building that was built in 1895. The building remained in a very good condition regarding the similar factories of the region, so we can see very specific spatial situations, such as the Hoffmann kiln in the basement, the huge wooden structure for drying the tiles and many others which are the spatial traces of this old technique. During our workshop we will focus on these spatial situations, we will try to grab the most important attributes and after that we will create installations which reflect somehow to these sites.

W3 BME Heritage of the brick industry of Kikinda

4-8 students

Zoltán Major, Gergely Sági, Zsolt Vasáros, Levente Szabó

The focus of our workshop is on the existing and significant industrial architecture of Kikinda. We are planning to evoke the original industrial context of the former brick factory – nowadays site of the Terra Atelier. Using ephemeral architectural installations we want to recreate this context, considering also the larger scale of the networks of brick factories all around the region.

W4 FAUT Digital Mapping – Current uses of Photogrammetry in architecture projects

4-8 students

Dinu Dan Răzvan (on site), Ștefan Szekereș (remote), Simina Vartolomei (on site)

The scope of the workshop is to introduce participants to the basics of photogrammetry, while digitizing some of the spaces of the Think Brick Exhibition using drones.  This will be achieved at different scales and on different objects. Photos of exhibition pieces will be taken and digitized. The 3D Models will be tuned with the photogrammetry software for optimal results. These will be further exported for usage in specialized architecture design software.

The workshop will be structured by around selected  case-studies as well as on site experiments.

Ideal:

Windows laptop with Windows 7 / 8 / 10,Dedicated graphics card of the specific type: NVIDIA, Min RAM: 8GB, CPU >= Intel i5, Android / iOS Phone / Tablet, Optional DSLR / Mirrorless camera

Anydesk software installed.

Less ideal, but we can pair you up with someone who has an NVIDIA GPU laptop: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 

Min RAM: 8GB, CPU >= Intel i3, Android / iOS Phone / Tablet

W5 UBB/UAUIM Curating Triplex Confinium. How to build up an exhibition

10-20 students

UBB: Norbert Petrovici, Cristian Pop, Ana Chis; 

UAUIM: Irina Băncescu, Ilinca Păun, Cristian Borcan, Alexandru Belenyi, Cristian Bădescu, Irina Tulbure 

FAUT: Oana Simionescu, Cristian Blidariu

Exhibiting architecture has been a practice used by architects since the beginning of modernity. Lately, it can be considered not only an occasion for displaying end products and bold ideas but also an appropriate environment and a creative process that allows exploration and learning, questioning, debating within the presence of different levels of encounters between the professionals and the viewer/public.

The workshop proposed in collaboration between UAUIM and UBB teams intends to explore the making-of of the exhibition dedicated to disseminating the experiences of the Triplex Confinium project. In order to do that, the coordinators of the workshop are proposing a four-step action: initial proposal for the exhibition / debating the public expectations / debating the previous experiences from the curators’ point of view / setting the exhibition.

(STEP) 1. Initial proposals for the exhibition will be presented by the teachers at the beginning of the workshop and adjusted, following the activities in step 2 and 3. 

(STEP) 2. Public expectations and points of view

The UBB exercise will present the most important qualitative methods and the way these can be used by architects. The discussion will concentrate on: 

1. a) the theory and practice of constructing proper research instruments (such as an interview guide), 
2. b) the ways to gather data in relation with the research questions and 
3. c) the manner in which architects can analyze and interpret the results. 

This knowledge can be applied by architects in different moments, as from before a project is started, to understand the need, until it is finished and its impact can be evaluated. The expected outputs of our workshop are some data gathering instruments (semi-structured interview guides) useful in assessing the results of both the summer schools and, also, for the Triplex Confinium project as a whole.

Case studies for STEP 2 (UBB) are: the results of the competition Think Brick and Terra Museum.

(STEP) 3. Curating and exhibiting

The exhibition itself has two purposes. First of all, it will showcase the projects which have participated in the Think Brick competition in Jimbolia. Second, it will include the results of the two workshops in Jimbolia and Kikinda, thus offering an overarching point of view on the Triplex Confinium project. 

One of its approaches will be centered around understanding and debating the intricacies and nuances of creating an exhibition from both a curatorial point of view and an architectural one. This goal will be achieved with the help of a series of short lectures and presentations in which different curators and active actors in the exhibition field will share their experiences, followed by debates on the selected topics. Following these presentations, the students and the tutors will define the final curatorial and spatial concept of the exhibition itself. 

(STEP) 4. The final step of the workshop will be implementing the exhibition itself. 

W6 SUSKO City in transition – historical development of Kikinda

10 students

Kaloyan Tsvetkov 

For centuries the region of Vojvodina was (and still is) a melting pot of diverse economic activities, nationalities, cultures, and religions. This was affecting (and still affects) the urban development and urban structures in the region. Kikinda is one of the major cities in Vojvodina and during its historical existence was a place for interaction of different processes that shaped the city: various agricultural activities and industrial development in the pre-socialist period, centralized state management, cultures and institutions that inherited from the socialist era, post-socialist development and economic transformations in the transition to the market economy. The different stages of the history of Kikinda have marked the city with different places, toponymy, buildings, and cultural heritage. The goal of this workshop is to trace the urban transformations of Kikinda – from a geographical and historical point that took place in the different stages of development of the city. Some of the activities for the students will be to identify the processes that influenced those transformations, map the symbolic places and try to predict the future spatial development of Kikinda. By using QField tool (an open-source mobile application) students will be allowed to collect spatial data in the city and later edit them in QGIS projects. Spatial changes and transformations can be traced, mapped, and analyzed for the different historical periods as an outcome of the workshop.

L1 City in transition – traditional and contemporary approaches in Urban Geography  

Prof. Petar Stoyanov

Urban geography seeks to explain the distribution of towns and cities and the socio spatial similarities and contrasts that exist between and within them. Today, there is no one dominant research approach that is used in Urban Geography. The city as an object can be analyzed from a historical, morphological, sociological, or anthropological perspective, as well from structuralist or economic aspects. However, they may co-exist in one study in combination. This shows the complexity of cities. Throughout the years, the scientific disciple has changed its focus of research several times. What is meant today by Urban Geography has very little to do with what is summarized under this name in the early twentieth century. In this regard, the purpose of the lecture will be to draw attention to these different approaches that evolved over the past several decades. Actually, “Geography of cities” has transformed into the “Geographies of cities’ ‘. Pluralism must be used to emphasize the complexity of the approaches used in this scientific discipline.

L2 Demographic tendencies and processes in the bordering areas of South-East Europe

Assoc. Prof. Georgi Bardarov

The demographic situation of a territory is determined by a number of economic, political, biological and social factors and, for its own part, it affects all spheres of socio-economic life. Today, in the twenty-first century, we are living in an extremely dynamic time, a time of great changes in all aspects of human civilization, which are happening in periods of time that are so short that there is no precedent. We also have changes in the traditional perceptions of people, in their value systems, and in their perceptions and expectations of their lives and the lives of their children. All these changes have a direct effect on the reproductive and migratory attitudes of people. Two fundamentally opposite demographic processes are happening in the world that highlight many challenges to the future development of the world. On one hand, there is a demographic explosion, an uncontrollably high birth rate and the accumulation of an excessively young population in developing countries, and on the other hand, an ever-lower birth rate and unprecedented aging of the population in the developed world. 

The summer school is open to any student actively studying in any of the partner Universities and Faculties. Each partner institution will participate with 4 students. It is recommended that the students that participated in LTT1- Jimbolia return for the closing LTT2 in Kikinda.

A scholarship is provided for each of the selected students (maximum 28 in total, 4 from each University). Considering the distance between the schools and Kikinda, the total amount of the scholarship is the following:

• 832 euro for FAUT and UNS
• 992 euro for BME, DEB, SUSKO, UBB and UAUIM

Summer school admission procedure:

In order to be admitted to the Summer School and receive the scholarship, students have to follow the following steps:

1. Make sure they are an active student in one of the partner Universities/Faculties.
2. Fill-in THIS FORM until the 20th of March.

In order to select the 4 students that will participate in the summer school, each partner will evaluate its own students and will communicate the selection to all applicant students until the 21st of March. The final list of participating students will be published on the Triplex Confinium website on the 23th of March.

In the evaluation process, each partner will grade each application with maximum 100 points, considering the following criteria:

• Previous participation in the Triplex Confinium’s  LTT1 (max 20 points)
• Motivation (max 40 points)
• Background (max 40 points)

The evaluation process cannot be contested.

Some practical information:

The language of the Summer School is English. The applicants need to be proficient in English in order to be able to participate. We will not provide translation in native languages.

Applicants will need to bring their own laptops/tablets to the summer school.

The scholarship will be used to cover expenses related to the participation in the summer school: transportation, accomodation, food and beverages, etc. 

The accommodation in Kikinda will be paid by each participant, from the scholarship, at the beginning of the summer school. The organizers will book the accommodation for all students. Participants must find their own accommodation in Novi Sad (during the first three days of the program).

Each student is responsible to organize his/her travel to NoviSad, Kikinda and back to its home, in accordance with the Summer School Schedule. When traveling from another country, please make sure you comply with the current covid regulations: https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/ROU/7011

BME 

Giovana Benvenuto

Paragi András Bence

Tamás Révész

Herner Dániel

DEB

Dávid Kozma

Balázs Fleischer

Fanni Balázs-Kercsó

Kincső Jakab

FAUT

Laura Argeşeanu

Jacqeline Iancu

Lucia Bolojan

Naghi Alexandru

SUSKO

Irena Georgieva

Lyubomira Georgieva

Ziyatin Isufov

Mihaela Petrova

Tsvetina Buzova

Elena Samardzhieva

Borislava Filcheva

Kristian Kirilov

UBB

Robert Gorgan

Vlad Bejinariu

Andrea Budai

Marțiș Diana Alexandra

UAUIM

Andreea Diana Roman

Alexandra Cret

Alexandra Pestritu

Oana Stoian

UNS

Milica Biorac

Andjela Jovanovic

Isidora Ratajac

Gordana Savković

LTT2 KIKINDA CLOSING EXHIBITION and Multiplier event