Workshop for „Atmospheres in the Urban Anthropocene – International and Cross-disciplinary Research Network“

11. - 13. Oktober 2019 / Kooperation, Dialog

Photo: Yero Adugna Eticha

Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The research project Atmospheres in the Urban Anthropocene – International and Cross-disciplinary Research Network was initiated and conceived by the Aarhus School of Architecture, established with the aim of developing an affective-sensory approach to the urban Anthropocene by bridging two strands of research which are hitherto unrelated: 1) research that has investigated the urban and the Anthropocene without much attention to affective and sensory issues, and 2) recent urban and architectural research into atmosphere that has investigated the sensory affective but most often fails to address the Anthropocene.

The network arranges three workshops in distinct climatic and sensory-affective atmospheres. The first one took place in Aarhus, Denmark, 2018; the second in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2019 and the third will be take place in Tromsø, Norway, 2020.

The focus of the workshop in Addis Ababa was approaches to mapping and registering of atmospheres in the urban Anthropocene. The thematic sub-focus was on „Subnatures and Biodiversity“. The
workshop was centred around mapping-artworks produced in the week preceding the workshop by artists, Yero Adugna Eticha and Leikun Nahusenay, in collaboration with architects, Rasmus Hjortshøj and Asbjørn Jessen, as well as by Muluadam Adane, Michael Hailu, Gashahun Kassahun, Tewodros Kifle, Temesgen Mastewal, and Solomon Shifraw Abebe – students from the Alle School of Fine Arts that participated in the workshop Mapping the Invisible City led by Makeda Begashaw, Polina Chebotareva and Christina Werner. The mapping-artworks were exhibited at Guramayne Art Center for the duration of the workshop and incorporated in the workshop lectures and discussions.

Organisation: Polina Chebotareva (Aarhus School of Architecture) and Christina Werner (Institut für Raumexperimente / Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin)

Network partners: Suzel Balez (École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Grenoble), Peder Klith Bøcher (Aarhus University / Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE)), Thomas Juel Clemmensen (The Arctic University of Norway), Rasmus Hjortshøj (Aarhus School of Architecture), Asbjørn Jessen (University of Copenhagen, Section Landscape Architecture and Planning), Tom Nielsen (Aarhus School of Architecture), Martin Prominski (Leibniz University Hannover), Jean-Paul Thibaud (École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Grenoble)

Collaborators Addis Ababa: Yero Adugna Eticha (photographer), Makeda Begashaw (Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University), Leikun Nahusenay (artist), Robel Temesgen (Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University), Brook Teklehaimanot (Addis Ababa University, EiABC protoLAB), Mifta Zekele (Guramayne Art Center)

Thanks to the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University and Guramayne Art Center.

Photo: Yero Adugna Eticha

Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj