The Wandering Maker
author: Machiel Spaan
Architectura & Natura
Amsterdam
ISBN 978-94-6140-066-6
Great to be mentioned by Machiel Spaan in his thoughtful book The Wandering Maker.
Bringing together many personal histories Machiel Spaan creates in 21 chapters a fascinating portrait of the range of architectural possibilities presented by walking, showing that creating space is a slow activity. It is a book full of references to architectural theory, architectural practices, the arts and discoveries.
The visual artist Frank Havermans (1967) designs and builds his installations on location. The artworks are spread across Toronto, Detroit, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Saõ Paulo and Athens. It began with artist-in-residence projects in Amsterdam and Groningen. He set to work in his chosen location in a small, self-built studio. He designed models with cardboard wood and paper that examine and map the immediate surroundings of his studio. Sometimes the models become working drawings of a future installation or vice versa, in which case the installation is a magnified model. Havermans prefers to build the installations himself. For example, he built a movie theatre for two people for the architecture biennial of Saõ Paulo which showed a film about the building process of the movie theatre. Havermans’ own work shows the work and craftmanship that went into it. His work’s legitimacy lies in capturing the genesis on film and showing this film.
Here, the workshop and the production process were synonymous with the entire work. Havermans’ workshop is essentially a travelling one, which always precedes a result or a work. The workshop takes on a different shape in each location and becomes a new learning and development process that produces new work.
