Between 2012 and 2015 Marcela Moraga conducted research and developed two projects in Berlin’s Gropius City. Gropiusstadt is a modernist housing complex designed primarily by Walter Gropius and built between 1962 and 1975. The artist was interested in its urban design consisting of high concrete buildings and large green areas. This planning aimed to improve the environmental conditions of the housing, such as good lighting and ample public space for social life and sports activities.
In Wohnen und sich erholen (living and recovering), Marcela Moraga tells the story of a failed architectural project, where buildings and green areas became two opposite poles that isolated their inhabitants. The high altitude of the buildings, the lack of cultural offerings, the strict rules imposed by the building administration on its residents and other reasons led to a series of social conflicts and a lack of interest in the large and clean recreational spaces.
Walking through different streets and parks in Gropius City with a papier-mâché turtle shell on her back, the artist integrates vegetation, soil and housing into her body, thereby transporting her personal life into the public space. Marcela Moraga contrasts the calm and slowness of her performance with the modern ideals of this accelerated architecture.
The performance was documented on Super 8 film, like the amateur films made by the first families who moved to Gropius’s city.
Wohnen und sich erholen (living and recovering) 2014
Super 8 film and digital transferred to HD Video . 1 Channel Video Loop 5‘ 17‘‘. Color and Sound. Camera: Freiland Films
Editing: Marcela Moraga, Photos: Mónica Araus
Wohnen und sich erholen was projected with a Super 8 projector at The Collection, a dual exhibition with Michelle-Marie Letelier at CIAT – Contemporary Institute for Art & Thought, 2023.
Photos from the exhibition: Sim & Nic