Browsing by Author "Bahmann, Dirk"

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Being towards [Death]scapes: Exploring the liminal as a space for counter-poetics to re-emerge in Avalon Cemetery
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Kock, Melissa Patricia; Bahmann, Dirk
Avalon Cemetery. A buffer zone that possesses substantial political agency alongside cultural significance. Its liminality withholds the spatial practices of individuals across the diaspora, revealing to us how individuals construct what some may consider un- conventional “counter cartographies of sociality, imagination and liberation”. (Matsipa, 2020) By delving into the multi-layered relationships between surface-level terrains and underlying subterranean structures using visual art, light is shed on the hidden inscriptions of past legacies duly rooted in the urban fabric as well as its people. Seeking to chal- lenge these structures, “Being towards [Death]scapes” aims to reimagine how individuals navigate physical spaces within the liminal realm of death, resulting in a reignition of one’s sense of self through the use of counter-poetics. By reconstructing the divide with the understanding of counter-time, between Black African, Coloured, and Indian territories, a structural backbone is formed, allowing new counter-spaces to emerge in a post-apartheid context
Making Atmospheres
(Arts Research Africa, 2022-09-16) Bahmann, Dirk
This paper discusses a practical methodology, developed for a second-year architectural elective project, that aims to make tangible the qualities of architectural atmospheres. It argues for an embodied practice of making sculptural artefacts. It proposes that these can articulate and make apparent atmospheric qualities. To be able to imagine or recognise atmosphere is a crucial skill for architects since atmosphere determines how people respond to space. The methodology is designed, through iterative cycles of making and critical reflection, to make students increasingly aware of atmosphere and develop their ability to create and articulate certain feeling tones within spaces. This artistic praxis relies upon a nonlinear, bodily knowing that seeks to challenge the dominance of ocularcentric practice in the discipline of architecture.
Renegotiating Space; Arts on Main, 44 Stanley + Johannesburg
(2012-08) Bahmann, Dirk; Frenkel, Jason
Currently, there is a proliferation of urban, middle class, creative and alternative developments in Johannesburg that are typified by 44 Stanley and Arts on Main. These developments are a relatively new phenomenon in the city and a critical investigation is required as to the reasons for their current popularity, as well as their impact and influences on the city. As ‘encoded’ texts that reflect the identities and desires of a segment of our society (Van Eeden2005:39), their analysis has the potential to shed light on the intricacies and nuances of the re-development of Johannesburg as a whole.44 Stanley is an alternative, boutique shopping venue on the urban edge of the city of Johannesburg. It is a walled, post-industrial, low-rise space that consists of a number of interconnected outdoor courtyards of various sizes. The clientele are primarily wealthy, creative people from the Northern Suburbs and the neighbouring universities (University of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand). As such, 44 Stanley is integrally stitched into its immediate urban fabric. It is part of the Milpark district in Braamfontein Werf, which contains a number of spatially isolated, self-contained developments, each owned by separate developers, including residential lofts, offices, film schools and a shopping mall. It was established in 2003 and represented and catered for a desire for northern suburbanites to re-engage with the urban.