K67 The Kiosk Shots - Kiosks in Eastern Europe

<body bgcolor="#ffffff" link="red" alink="red" vlink="red"> <span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> The Kiosk Shots - </span><span class="grey09n">a European project between public space and politics<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Introduction<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">The collective mapping project </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> - The Kiosk Shots, initiated by Publicplan Amsterdam, wants to show how the public space in Eastern Europe is determined and linked by the </span><span class="grey09b"><span class="grey09n">K67</span></span><span class="grey09n"> kiosk design. The eye-catching street furniture traversed different stages according to the recent history. The unified functional design has been successfully spread within planed economy systems. Also it was providing space to cultural and political change. Nowadays, with Eastern Europe in social, political and economical transition, it becomes a prominent linking element in East European public space. By collecting as many </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n">-photopraphs as possible the project intends to draw an outline of the eastern countries and tries at the same time to create a dense documentation of urban environment in Eastern Europe.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">The original design<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">The </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> design was introduced in 1966 by the Slovenian architect and designer Sasa J. Mächtig. Its system is based on polyfibre reinforced modules, which could be used as single units or combined to large agglomerations. The </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> could support a wide range of diverse functions, such as an an information stand or a small dwelling unit.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Other similar projects in design during the same period also experimented with mobile and modular units. Some of theme, such as the Futuro House (1968) by Matti Suuronen are milestones in design and architecture, never the less, they were never produced in big quantities. The cubicle and modular </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> kiosks also reflect structuralist tendencies in architecture, such as Aldo van Eyck´s Orphanage in Amsterdam (1958-60) or Herman Hertzbergers Centraal Beheer in Apeldoorn (1968-72). The metablist Kisho Kurokawa comes close to Mächtig´s ideas with his Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyio (1970-72) compromising of prefabricated dwelling cubes.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">After patenting it in 1967, </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> was prepared for its serial production in 1968 with the first exhibition of prototypes in the provincial town Ljutomer (Slovenia). In April 1970 </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> was published in an English design magazine with the article "Low life from the streets". As a consequence, the Museum of Modern Art in New York included it into its collection of 20th century design. In the early nineties Imgrad Ljutomer stopped producing </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> due to radical changes in the Slovenian economical system.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">The spread<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">While the distribution of certain street furniture is mostly limited to a local or regional scale, the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> was widely exported abroad. Using clever marketing strategies the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> was sold in large quantities not only to the countries of Ex-Yugoslavia, but also to the COMECON countries and other continents (eg. Japan and New Zealand). Due to the fact that the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> principle is copied several times by other companies (eg. by Treska, Macedonia), </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> came to embody the Eastern European kiosk culture.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">The successful spread of a specific design was also positively influenced be the system of the united socialistic planned economies of the Eastern Block. Between 1949 and 1990 Europe lived in an ideological and political division into east and west. In the Yugoslavian Republic and the COMECON nations a single, standard product was generally produced for a bigger unity (like a country), such as the allied socialist countries. In that sense a planned economy unlike the free market economy was able to promote a specific design. As a unified functional object </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> fits perfectly a system where a single solution could serve multiple and diverse needs.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Therefore the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> principle - both the original design and its clones - is a significant object in the urban space of the former planned economies of the Eastern Europe . It inhabits the cities as newspaper kiosks, parking-attendant booths, copyshops, market stands, shelter booths, chip stalls, student cafes or lottery stands, easily visible and accessible, in different colours and combinations. The unified functional design of the units enables them to fit almost any location and its context as well as numerous, diverse functions.<br> <br> </span> <p><span class="grey09n">Indicator of political and economical change<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">A kiosk provides space for activities which do not claim a permanent place in our built environment. This has several reasons: e.g. if the activity cannot afford economically a fixed location. Some activities are only temporary and do not demand a permanent accommodation. Another case is when the built environment is not able to take over the infrastructural task due to of war damage. Sometimes the political and ideological situation is an obstacle to proper establishment. By using kiosk units even private initiatives could fit into the pattern of a socialistic unified society. In that sense </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> can be seen somehow like a forerunner of market economy by hosting small private businesses, long before the beginning of the collapse of the Eastern Block in the late 1980´s.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Urban linking element<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">During the last decade most of the Eastern European countries joined the western economical and political systems. New national states were formed. Some countries converted rapidly into western-orientated democracies while others are still governed by autocrat leaders. This provoced a rapid change of the (common) identity of Eastern Europe. Many witnesses of eastern design disappeared from everyday life, from the shops, from the built environment and the public space. For many people they embody the negative aspects of the socialist model of society. The new freedom of choice after 45 years encouraged many clients -most understandably- to turn away from the unitary, uniform assortment which was quickly replaced by western products.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">While some products and designs survived thanks to massive support of the eastern European population (e.g. the "Ampelmännchen" in Eastern Germany), others could only be preserved in the western market system through a radical renewal. The few products that succeed to survive without being radically altered were smart, timeless solutions. Within this context the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> becomes one of the few remaining visible signs of a vanished social union and an important linking element in Eastern European public space.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Revaluation - new consciousness and other K67 (art) projects<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Nevertheless the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> kiosks are in danger of disappearing from public stage. Statements by eastern inhabitants about vanished or vandalised kiosks confirm this worry. The aim of </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> - The Kiosk Shots is to revaluate the design and point out its extraordinary role in the urban space of Eastern Europe. The process of revaluation is accompanied by a number of recent art projects which make use of </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> units. The Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc, for example, combined some </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> units with a South American "palafita" for her installation "Next Stop Kiosk", which was shown in the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana. Magnus Bärtås, a Swedish artist, arranges </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n">´s in front of a black background in his photograph series "Satellites". Already a few years ago the "Mutations" project documented the important role of the kiosks in Ex-Yugoslavia for the re-establishment of facilities in the war-destroyed area.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">By collecting and mapping the </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> kiosks, </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> - The Kiosk Shots will give an outline of the eastern countries in their state of transition. The </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> website www.publicplan.com/K67 brings together, at least virtually, the kiosks which are physically spread out over the whole of Eastern Europe, linking the most diverse urban spaces in Eastern Europe and rendering them visible. The project intends to show the individual variety and diversity this design product can bring into public space. </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> is significant component of a complex history and identity of the eastern European countries. With these countries joining the EU it also becomes part of a wider, common European history. As travel from one Eastern European metropolitan area to another is becoming easier and faster, also the urban network of </span><span class="grey09b">K67</span><span class="grey09n"> units will become increasingly perceptable.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">Helge Kühnel, 19.04.2004<br> <br> <span class="grey09b">K-67-LOGFILE</span><br> <br> </span><span class="red">[E] </span><span class="grey09n">= exhibition, </span><span class="red">[L]</span><span class="grey09n"> = lecture, </span><span class="red">[P]</span><span class="grey09n"> = press article / publication<br> <br> <br> <br> 13.07.2003 Arrival in Ljubljana, meeting Jana.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">14.07.2003 Walking the city of Ljubljana I notice all these modulare units with their rounded edges. They seem to be a linking element in the urban space. I decided only to take pictures of the the city where there is one of these modules.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">15.07.2003 Remembering that there is a fastfood K67 unit behind the central station in Dresden / East Germay I think about making a series of K67-photos in different countries.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">24.07.2003 In Maribor (SLO) we find quite a lot of new copies dressed in "West" design. But there are also original K67s to find.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">01.08.2003 Realizing that K67 was a successful east europaen product I send emails to friends which are living in the former east block countries. I ask them to look for K67 in their cities.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">06.08.2003 I send an email to the Ljubljana University where designer Sasa Maechtig is professor now. I hope to contact Mr. Maechtig in order to get more information about his design.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">08.08.2003 Tahl Kaminer told me that he saw a K-67 in this "mutations" book although it looks more like made of concrete ("Mutations", p. 344-348, "Use Network" Pristina, Stefano Boeri, www.useproject.net).<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">12.08.2003 Jana tells me the name of a Swedish artist called Magnus Bartas, who also investigated on the K67 units. Searching the Internet I found information about his project "satellites". He took also photographs from different K67 on different places in six countries, mostly Ex-Yugoslavia. He sees the "Satellites", in retrospective, as omens of political and economical changes. Cutting out the units and presenting them in front of a black neutral background he brings them to a more abstract level. Taking away any urban context they appear like objects from outer space, like "satellites". - For a moment I thought "my" project is already done by somebody else. But in contradistinction to the Bartas-Project I want to show these kiosk in their urban surrounding, want to prove that the same system is valuable in different places, want to show the eastern European places through these K67 units. My goal is it to make this project really a "movement" using the simultaneous technology of the internet. I will try to make people enthusiastic about the K67 like inhabitant of their environment. Creating consciousness that this K67 tells a lot about common history and identity.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">14.08.2003 Start of the making of the K67 website.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">15.08.2003 Doing research on the COMECON like east european economical system. <br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">17.08.2003 Gero Heimann writes from Bejing. He hasn´t seen K67s in China until now. But he send a really nice photo of a typical Chinese kiosk.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">19.08.2003 A friend from Dresden tells us that quite some K-67-booths in Germany have to suffer from vandalism.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">27.08.2003 Sasa Maechtig answers my email and sends me some nice photos of the K67. The K67 unit has appearently such a big success that has even reached countries like New Zealand and Japan. A slovenian artist called Marjetica Potrc will use K67 units for their exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art of Ljubljana.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">27.08.2003 Sophia tells me about two exihibitions in East Germany, one about eastern fastfood stands in (Domäne Dahlem / Berlin, „Imbissbuden - Essen ohne Grenzen“) , the other about GDR busstops (Verkehrsmuseum Dresden "Magic Bus")<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">27.08.2003 Test launch of the website.<br> <br> </span><span class="grey09n">02.09.2003 Official launch of the K67 website.<br> <br> 03.09.2003 </span><span class="red">[P]</span><span class="grey09n"> The spanish web directory Lnkscape.org </span><span class="grey09n">adds the K67-project to the catogory "architecture"<br> <br> 20.09.2003 New entries from Minsk (Belarussia) by Jeroen van Nieuwenhuizen<br> <br> 26.09.2003 New entry from Wrozlaw (Poland) by Tim Zümendorf<br> <br> 02.10.2003 Approximately 350 site visits in one month<br> <br> 21.01.2004 </span><span class="red">[P]</span><span class="grey09n"> The Italian section of the Architects Council of Europe (ACE/CAE) reports about "K67 - The Kiosk Shots" in their newsletter</span><span class="grey09n"><br> <br> 24.10.2003 New entries from Ljubljana (Slovenia) by Ilka and Andreas Ruby<br> <br> 29.10.2003 Opening of the exhibition "Next Stop, Kiosk" from the slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc, Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, 29 October - 30 November 2003<br> </span><span class="grey09n"><br> 30.10.2003 New entries from Ðurdevac and Zagreb (Croatia) by Assen Ivanov<br> <br> 21.01.2004 </span><span class="red">[P]</span><span class="grey09n"> Joost tells about the project on the EASA website </span><span class="grey09n">(The European Architecture Student Assembly).</span><span class="grey09n"><br> <br> 21.01.2004 </span><span class="red">[P]</span><span class="grey09n"> </span><span class="grey09n">Ilka and Andreas Ruby write an essay for the SIXPACK exhibition (young slovenian architects), in which they talk also about the significance of K67 for Slovenia and in which they refer to "K67 - The Kiosk Shots".</span><span class="grey09n"><br> <br> 29.05.2004 </span><span class="red">[L]</span><span class="grey09n"> Magnus Bartas and the Biennial of Visual Arts of Pancevo </span><span class="grey09n">(near Belgrade) invite me for a lecture about "K67 - The Kiosk Shots".<br> <br> 16.06.2004 New entries from Warsaw (Poland) by Marcin Koltunski<br> <br> 09.07.2004 </span><span class="red">[E]</span><span class="grey09n"> The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) </span><span class="grey09n">seems to be interested in showing the K67-project within the upcoming exhibition "Collage Europa" in October.<br> <br> <br> Helge Kühnel (publicplan)<br> <br> <br> </span><a href="k67_popup.html"><span class="grey09b">news around K67</span></a><span class="grey09b"><br> </span><span class="grey09b"><br> </span><a href="k67_popup2.html"><span class="grey09b">more news</span></a></p> </body>