THE GRAND
DOMESTIC REVOLUTION

THE GRAND
DOMESTIC REVOLUTION

USER'S MANUAL

‘The Grand Domestic Revolution—User’s Manual’ (GDR) investigates the domestic space and its (changing) use through a variety of methods and disciplines, traversing the fields of art, design, architecture, urban planning, activism and theory. A number of artists and other practitioners contribute to this endeavour. Residents from 2009-2011 include Sepake Angiama, Paul Elliman, and Doris Denekamp who utilized neighbourhood and online research to create prototypes and interventions around the theme of (Green) Cooperativsm. Wietske Maas and Travis Meinolf experimented with Home Production; while 'interor' infrastuctural interventions for the furniture, library and hallways were created by ifau & Jesko Fezer, Mirjam Thomann and Graziela Kunsch. Current themes and residents from February–October 2011 include Kyohei Sakaguchi and Kateřina Šedá who will each investigate forms of usership in architectures; home and housing rights with Maria Pask and Nazima Kadir; the question of invisible and domestic labour taken up by Werker Magazine; Agency will continue its deliberations on copyright issues of domestic THINGS (gardens and textiles); and keywords in relations to food service work will be workshopped with Xu Tan. Parallel to this, the Read-in activity continues. Initiated by artist Annette Krauss and theatre maker, Read-in is an open reading group inhabiting a different neighbour’s home for every session.

LIBRARY

LIBRARY

The GDR library constitutes the backbone of our ongoing ‘living research’ and thus grows over time. The library offers points of engagement with the project and consists of different research materials such as books, articles, images and DVDs (artist’s video, films) that are available for viewing when visiting the apartment. The first installment was done by the GDR team and was later adapted by Sao Paulo-based artist Graziela Kunsch who suggested that the GDR team create thematic selections.

APARTMENT 18B

APARTMENT 18B

'The Grand Domestic Revolution-User's Manual' is a long-term project developed as Casco’s contribution to 'Utrecht Manifest: Biennial for Social Design'. The project deals with the evolutionary and collaborative process of “living” research in the contemporary domestic and private sphere – particularly in relation to the spatial imagining (or the built environment). It aims at re-articulating while exercising the notions of the social, the public and, eventually, the commons.

TOWN MEETINGS

TOWN MEETINGS

TOWN MEETINGS has its genealogy in past regular GDR events from 2009–2010. These include Home Cinema, where the screening of films that touch upon different aspects of domesticity, neighbourhood organisation, urban planning and alternative politics, take place; Thursday Night Supper, occasions for cooking, eating and discussion with various guests, and the midterm manifestation GDR GOES ON which consisted of a series of events over four days in domestic, private, and public spaces in Utrecht.

IN AFFINITY

IN AFFINITY

Since August 2010, the GDR team have undertaken research in order to connect with the local neighbourhood on questions relating to peoples’ social conditions and material environments. Questionnaires, interviews, and conversations are the methods used to explore the themes and problems addressed in GDR, such as self-organised governance, co-operative living, and spatial organisation in and from the domestic sphere.

SEARCH

SPEAKING TRUMPETS

GDR apartment facade

For their GDR residency, Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere have designed a set of acoustic extensions (speaking trumpets) that penetrate the building’s facade. On the occasion of Queen’s Day, this new domestic infrastructure was inaugurated with a broadcast on the politics of ‘listening in’. Using lo-fi and lo-tech amplification, music, anecdotes, recipes, situations, and sounds of the interior space of GDR was exteriorised. This sound 'outervention' reverses the usual process of keeping domestic sounds in and exterior sounds out.

Please listen or download the broadcast from here and download the accompanying 'Grand Domestic Standardizations' playlist here.

GDR apartment facade close up - with 'speaking trumpets', project by Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere

'speaking trumpets’, project by Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere from inside GDR apartment

Directed view from 'speaking trumpets’, project by Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere

Detail from 'speaking trumpets', project by Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere from inside GDR apartment

Town Meeting April

Related:

NOTES

GDR Diary 3: The moestuin is alive

Dear Sepake,

I think that you will be glad to know that the GDR moestuin keeps being regularly visited. Yesterday’s visitors took fresh radishes home and, in exchange, shared important (albeit basic, I was told) gardening knowledge — in warm days, plants should only be watered in the evening. They also suggested that the remaining radishes should be moved into bigger pots, so that their soil will keep moist during the next hot Summer days. Would that be fine for you? Apart from that, the plants seem to be happy to be a part of the GDR, as you can see here.

23 May 2010, 23.04 — posted by Mafalda

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