Open City

The visual inspiration for the installation is the Słowackiego housing estate, where Oskar and Zofia Hansen’s theory of “Open Form” shaped the architecture, playgrounds and theatre.

Atlas takes the form of a sculptural ensemble combining public exercise equipment — stretching stations and other training apparatus — with objects and forms characteristic of the neighbourhood.

The work encourages visitors to pause, rest, exercise and interact with the space. It creates a symbolic connection between sculpture and physical movement: walking, climbing, lifting and carrying become both physical effort and exploration. Atlas functions as a place for activity, social interaction and contemplation.

Brad Downey – american artist and activist based in Berlin. He studied documentary film at Pratt Institute in New York and painting at the Slade School of Art in London. His projects encompass performance, film, installation, painting and drawing. Through artistic interventions — with humour and sensitivity — he explores the hidden structures of cities, landscapes and sacred places, as well as forgotten peripheries and contested borders. His work has been presented extensively across Europe, including at the Architecture Biennales in Timișoara (2022) and Tbilisi (2020). His solo exhibitions include Slow Motion Disasters (Berlin, 2019), Reverse Culture Shock (Eindhoven, 2018), Flupp Blubb Boing (Arnsberg, 2020) and This Echo (Ljubljana, 2019). In 2020, Hatje Cantz published a retrospective study of his work, Slapstick Formalism: Process Project Object.

Julien Fargetton – graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Nantes. He has lived and worked in Berlin, Marseille, Venice, Barcelona, Tangier and Lisbon. Since 2012, he has collaborated with socially engaged collectives such as HalloFestspiele, Constructlab and Ensaios e Diálogos Lisboa. His practice focuses on revitalising public space through cultural and educational initiatives developed together with marginalised communities, creating projects deeply rooted in local practices. Since 2018, he has been a member of Floating University Berlin and El Warcha Lisboa, with whom he participated in documenta fifteen in Kassel.