Cercle Meudon

Cercle Meudon, Centre of Architecture Meudon Kring Assen, is an artist based initiative from within the DeFKa Department. As a platform for discussions on matters of art, architecture and culture in related terms it is inspired by the Dutch visual artist and DADA-poet Van Doesburg. His atelierproject in Meudon, France, which served as an international meetingplace for artists of any discipline, lend its name to this new Centre that started november 2004. (*)

Cercle Meudon invites artists, architects, art theorists and other people who have affinity with art and architecture to join in a debate on the theme of ‘cultural infrastructure in regional perspective’. We take as an example the region Assen-Groningen, which is already being typecasted as an ‘urban network’. The Duth Government in its recent report, called the ‘Nota Ruimte’, has defined a few more of these networkareas, for instance the region Hengelo-Enschede and Arnhem-Nijmegen. Such an area has a potential of economic growth and offers excellent opportunity to concentrate industrial and cultural facilities (RED) so as to spare ecological fragile countryside and recreational domain (GREEN). Of course there is also a link possible with international examples of twin-city dynamics.

About this theme there are lots of interesting approaches to consider, but all are subject to one important political issue and that is: local and regional authorities are given more decisive power in accomodating structures according to the directives of national government. Not everyone is equally happy with this. Aäron Betsky, director of the Nai, National Architectiural Institute, says that especially in the Netherlands cityplanning and landscapedesign should be induced central. It seemes that this opinion is shared by Adriaan Geuze, curator of the second International Architecture Biënnale in Rotterdam, who signals a lack of talent in governmental behavior concerning concepts of Space (Ruimte).

On the regional level much debate is concerned with industrial, transportational and private (land)scapes. Cercle Meudon wants to add to this a more cultural integrated overall view that underlines the strategic distribution within this particular region of (the production of) knowledge, art and civic institutions as wel the architectonical gestalt in which these domains wil show themselves. That means for instance that all levels of education including university and academic schooling as well as research in the arts and media should be involved.

Because of the advance of extra local and regional responsibilities in these matters, the Cercle will support a public meeting of minds, organized by DeFKa on the 9th of June 2005 during a manifestation and exhibition entitled NOORDSTAD. For more information and response please contact us.

(*)
Cercle Meudon concentrates on the theoretical aspects in architecture related themata.
DeFKa’s design office DeDO could take up these theoretical apects to complement them as an active, executive, partner in practice.