TYPHOON: VERMAAK IS VERZET /
TRANS-ARCHITECTURE IN A PUBLIC SPACE
TYPHOON is a trans-architecture piece created for Court Square, the main square in the city of Oostende, Belgium.
John K. Cobra was one of five artists selected to propose an artwork to celebrate and strengthen the neighbourhood's social network.
This residential neighbourhood was built around 1900 for the working class who constructed the city of Oostende. The housing model was developed according to the societal vision of the bourgeoisie. Architecture was used to condition the working class into their assigned role and control their lives and movements. Successive additions of concrete elements (walls, floors, ceilings, streets, car parks, etc.) and the removal of green open spaces limited outdoor social interactions, protests against the working and living conditions of the working class, and festive gatherings such as the fair. The celebration of life and public protest, which could have helped them escape their oppressed position, was hindered. Only once a year was a big fair organised on the concrete Court Square. I call this 'Trance-Architecture', Phase I of my theoretical model, 'Trans-Architecture'. This architecture keeps the common people in a kind of trance, navigating an environment designed to contain their desires and set clear limits, boundaries, commandments and taboos.
Despite being the poorest neighbourhood in Oostende, with affordable accommodation and underdeveloped infrastructure, it continues to attract diverse minority groups who settle there to make a living. It is an epicentre for underprivileged minority groups.
The City of Ostend and several organisations invited five artists to create a piece of art that would celebrate and strengthen the social network of the neighbourhood, as well as its ethnic and cultural legacy. The artists would work in conversation with the residents to create the artwork. John K Cobra believes that significant societal changes are primarily driven by the working class, who experience the harshest conditions and the strongest urge for change.
John K Cobra believes that significant societal changes are primarily instigated by the working class, where the challenges of life are most profound and the desire for improvement is strongest. Typhoon is inspired by the DNA of the working class.
It symbolises popular working-class culture, combining images of embryonic horses on a carousel at a Flemish fair with a monumental pillar — a symbolic space of power around which the working class can gather to protest their disadvantaged position. The cultural tradition of joyful fairs is inextricably linked to the cultural tradition of activism among the working class. Both traditions are systems of resilience against the oppression of the elite. This pillar is an epicentre of power where the working class can celebrate and fight back. It is a space for critiquing an oppressive world.
According to the Trans-Architecture principle of fluidity, the monument consists of an iron and concrete core onto which silicone layers can be placed and removed. These layers serve as tools to support the residents' critique. The silicone can be shaped through sculpting, writing, burning, cutting and painting, among other processes.
The concrete core of the monument is protected against graffiti, but the silicone layers can be altered by graffiti and other forms of spontaneous critique. All voices are embraced.
These layers of critique can be stored for later use.
The monument is fluid due to its constant transformation.
Typhoon is a monument that only exists as an NFT. This NFT brings the pillar to life as a digital symbol of power, challenging power structures and the status quo of the working class. It becomes a digital pillar and an epicentre for change.
Concept and design by John K Cobra.
3D rendered images by Gilbert Balinda Achitects
The city of Oostende
and More...