Project Space Cluj

Reise nach Cluj im Rahmen der von wonderland organisierten Veranstaltungsserie The Other City Series 2010–2011:

Everybody is aware of the scepticism surrounding workshops taking place at a unique location, with an interesting topic and some unique people.
Project Space in Cluj had urban planners, activists and creatives from Netherlands, Hungary, Austria and Romania, offering stereotypical reasons for scepticism. The topic at hand was „Vacancy“, more specifically industrial vacancy, which Cluj has plenty of.This time however, the stars were lined up precisely as Wonderland and Area 3 organized the workshop perfectly, offering an excellent balance between control or structure and freedom. An organizational style which could be interpreted as „laissez faire“, proved to be the natural way of leading the process, allowing those involved in the project the freedom to manoeuvre freely.

The result was an astonishing concentration of local and imported knowledge and experience interplaying with each other.

This situation and the reciprocal action of the desire to discuss and the desire to act led to two projects being presented to the public on Saturday. One was a postcard series consisting of 29 individual designs and messages portraying the beauty of the city as well as the opportunities available in Cluj. The postcards proved that the perception and mental mapping of a city is extremely important. The instructions or guidelines in the postcards were a result of a rather methodical procedure.

The other project presented, which could be called the „Spring Laboratory“, was created after three days of collective thinking. The search for a specific and direct solution, almost as if shooting a dart directly into the bulls eye, combined with the aspiration to start something, to become active about our future and to work together as a Romanian-Austrian group, resulted in desire to utilize one of the many vacant buildings.

Spring Laboratory is one answer to the recurring questions of how to become an Entrepreneur and how to empower ourselves as young professionals.

Fotos: Lorenz Potocnik