Efilena Baseta, Architecture, 2019

*1987 in Athen, lives in Wien

Efilena Baseta is an Architect Engineer (NTUA) with a Master in Advanced Architecture (IAAC) and holds a Technical Doctorate from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, on the topic of transformable structures. Since 2014 Efilena is a co-founding partner of Noumena, a multidisciplinary practice which merges computational strategies with advanced manufacturing techniques for the digitalization of design processes. She has designed and coordinated ‘Advanced Construction’ exhibitions and has led various educational programs internationally. Additionally, in 2015-16 she was the coordinator of the IAAC Visiting Programs. In 2014 she received the “Innovative Structure” award by IAAC and in 2018 the Autodesk Emerging Research award. During 2016-18, Efilena was a Marie-Curie researcher. She is currently a computational designer at the Vienna based architectural firm Coop Himmelb(l)au.

Berlin Fellowship

“HYBRIDS”

Residency Project

HYBRIDS – The Interplay of Analogue and Digital

2019, interactive audiovisual performance / interdisciplinary round table discussion

This performance translates the tangible self-formation process of material systems into an intangible interactive audiovisual experience. The music plays the role of forces and the visuals represent a material system that is shaped by the music. The piece explores the combination of analog (piano) and digital (electronic keyboard) sound maintaining an “analog” human element (performer), who triggers both sounds and visuals. The real time interaction between all of the parts aims to create a unique experience for the audience. In order to further discuss the topics that arise from the aforementioned projects and their broader context, creative people from various artistic fields are called to express their thoughts at a round table discussion and engage the audience in an open dialog on the following questions:

– How has digitalization affected creative processes?
– What has digitalization changed for the arts with regard to production, distribution and reception?
– In what ways do digital tools require us to rethink concepts like originality, artist and audience?
– How do digital technologies challenge traditional understandings of craft and art?

 

Performance: BEND & BLOCK; Composer: Schmidhammer; Piano and keyboard: Christos Marantos
Visuals: Efilena Baseta; Keyboard sponsor: Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Musikschule, Diakonie Bildung Österreich
Round table moderator: Christoph Knoth; Speakers: Anna Weidenholzer, Efilena Baseta, Johann Lurf, Kaj Duncan David, Robert Olawuyi

2.2.2020, opening weekend Where The Story Unfolds, work presentations JUNGE AKADEMIE 2020

HYBRIDS

2019, concrete artifacts

With the presence of ubiquitous computing, digitalization is more prominent in many aspects of our everyday lives. Particularly in the arts, digitalization has altered the creative processes and artistic discourses, offering possibilities for new forms of art and topics related to digitality, society and culture. Computational design methods, digital fabrication techniques, machine learning algorithms, digital graphics and sound are some of the new tools that have transformed consolidated artistic processes.
In addition, human skills and craftsmanship have been extended with the use of digital means, which can sometimes raise questions as to the originality of artistic works. Considering that up until the 20th century the human mind was used for thinking and acting without digital tools, nowadays artists question and negotiate these tools as well as principles and rules of the digital age. In this particular age, the boundaries between analog and digital processes are hard to draw, and thus most of the artistic creations are hybrids (combinations of digital and analog processes).
Focusing on tangible artifacts, an attempt is made to explore the potentials that digital fabrication tools offer in the construction field. The project explores the new formal potential of concrete structures with the use of additive manufacturing techniques, where the resulted forms are the outcome of forces applied to material systems. More specifically, unique hybrid structures are self-formatted (shaping material structures through force) with the help of gravity when an “analog” concrete mixture is extruded through a digital robotic arm. These structures are the opposite of the regular cast concrete
forms that abound in brutalist and modern architecture. More specifically, the artifacts are not printed on flat surfaces, but on surfaces with varying curvatures. This fact breaks the necessity for planarity and offers the potential for a novel, in-situ construction technique able to adapt to any terrain. In addition, the printing paths of the robotic arm are customized by the designers and not automatically generated by software, which makes us think about how the role of the designer is changing with the rise of digitalization.
The 3D printed prototypes are made in the context of the “Digital Design and Full Scale Fabrication 2019” course of the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Tutors: Andrei Gheorghe, Efilena Baseta, Jan Kováříček; Fabrication: Incremental3d GmbH; Students: Adriana Viktoria Boeck, Ana Maria Chiriac, Anahita Dehlavi, Andreas Schermann, Anna-Maria Jäger, Chan Yen Fen, Chen Yang, Daniil Zhiltsov, Emma Sanson, Georgios Albanis, Iga Mazur, Jade Bailey, Josh Horovitz, Lee Joyce, Lisa-Marie Androsch, Martin Ho Cheung Lai, Merve Sahin, Michał
Spólnik, Mira Suradi, Oliver Alunovic, Oskar Heslyk, Patricia Tibu, Patryk Ślusarski, Saba Mahdavi, Simon Sais, Sophie Hartmann, Velina Iantcheva, Viktoriya Tudzharova, Wang Ying, Zishen Liu

Where The Story Unfolds, work presentations JUNGE AKADEMIE 2020