Laurens Kolks > spatial design

the Imploding City

This project started with a research into the supression of cultural diversity within Dutch society. We took the theatre's archetypical benches and placed them in different public spaces scattered all over town. We recorded the ways in which passers-by reacted.

We build an entrance like a mould through which the audience entered the theatre premises, after which a funnel guided visitors to a red transition zone. This zone connected the different publicly accessible areas of the theatre: a lobby featuring a floor made up of concrete sidewalk tiles, and various areas to be seated.

The theatre's main space served as a décor for a series of lectures. Audiences were divided amongst three distinct areas within the auditorium that offered specific perspectives on the main stage. We transformed a spare space used for storage into an extra room to seat audiences. As the floor of this space was 1,5 meters lower than the auditorium's main floor, it provided visitors seated here with a dug-out perspective on the stage. The three physical 'perspective areas' created in the auditorium were interlinked with a closed circuit of surveillance cameras and mirrors. This setup enabled members of the audience to constantly monitor themselves and each other.

Production

Click here to see how the Imploding City was created

Client

Zeebelt, The Hague

Details

Concept and design: Samuel Carré, Laurens Kolks and Thomas Suillerot.

Thanks to Hannah Boenders, Koos Flinterman, Nils Hilbers and Judith Schoneveld for supporting this project.