Last night saw the launch of Die Braak Pavilion, the structure erected on the eponymous public space, which forms part of the Stellenbosch Triennale.
The pavilion is participatory in nature and the result of contributions from all walks of life ranging from communities who contributed recycled material, nature conservation agencies like CapeNature who contributed alien stumps for seating and crucially CS Property for erecting the skeleton structure from where the pavilion will evolve.
Conceived by architect Pieter Mattews, the structure is made from recycled material and will continue to evolve over the coming weeks through the participation of students, artists and the local community.
Die Braak Pavilion
The Pavilion is a gathering space for people from different walks of life who use it: Lawyers, tourists, churchgoers, workers, schoolchildren, homeless people to stop and linger.
It represents a fusion between the disciplines of public art, sculpture and architecture. The Pavilion can be considered the “armature” or skeleton which keeps the conceptual notions upright and “grows” throughout the Triennale as people participate in its making.
An afterlife for the Pavilion is envisaged: as a playground for a crèche or perhaps a shading device for local crafters. Conversations around everyday materials and their afterlives are integral to the message the Pavilion portrays.
Embodied experience
The notion of “embodied experience”, explained by architectural theorist Juhaani Pallasma as a full sensory experience in time and place, is the foundation of the Pavilion. It is intended as a space to be experienced, to be interacted with and contributed to.
By providing only the armature as defined structure, the Pavilion encourages local artists and the community to participate in the filling in of the Pavilion. Waste materials such as discarded fishing nets, ropes, plastic bags and nylon packaging will be woven and knotted as infill material.
The reuse of waste material will communicate the value of waste and the future of a waste economy. The Pavilion stands as a metaphor for the future of our planet’s depleting resources and the value of what we today refer to as “waste”.
The participatory process of the inaugural architectural Pavilion will be documented as testimony to the potential for symbiosis between creatives and observers, the planet and the people.
Visit Die Braak Pavillion on Stellenbosch’s town square, or follow the Stellenbosch Triennale on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on the evolution of this landmark project