Agora 2012
Agora, a Biennale of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design took place from 13 to 16 September 2012.
Out of the hangar 14 visitors and audiences of the numerous demonstrations organised in town, about 32 300 people have taken part in the 5th Agora edition.
Extended from 3 to 4 days, Agora has beefed up its program aimed at the Bordeaux inhabitants passionate about their city, specialists about architecture and urban planning and visitors of all walks of lives. “This year, Agora has taken an important step forward”. (Sud-Ouest)
Among the elements which contributed to this success, the exhibition “Heritage: Inheritance/Heresy”, by the architect Marc Barani who has managed to find the right approach to stage a complex issue. In turn accessible and aesthetic, his exhibition has come to share this “living material” that is heritage by carrying the visitor from town to town, from culture to culture through videos “which look at each other, collide with each other, complete each other” (Libération) without ever being simplistic.
Discover Marc Barani’s testimony, photos and videos of this exhibition.
The scenography by Birgitt Fryland is characterized by its sobriety, and the graphic work done by the Ter Bekke-Behage has enabled to coherently match the diversity of the contents exhibited by the Agora partners on the first floor of the Hangar 14.
The accent will be placed on the urban project with the showcasing of numerous models and a place dedicated to “Bordeaux 2013”.
Click here to watch the videos presented in this space.
It is also during those major debates that Agora’s heart is beating. This edition has again proved it with citizens / urban residents who came to take part in debates with the VIPs of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Naturally, the enthusiastics will keep in mind the conversation between Alain Juppé and the architect Rem Koolhas in a crowded room, but the highlights of the event have been aplenty.
Watch the videos of the debates.
In conjunction, round-tables and project presentations have enabled to quench the thirst for information of a Bordeaux audience curious about the future of its city.
The public comes to Agora; and Agora comes to town. Events in the districts have unfolded with 10 outdoors exhibitions, among which some are still ongoing, parties, projections, construction site visits and unusual interventions in the public space.
We will remember, among other things, the rue Kléber party “undergoing a plant revolution in a fun meeting which brought together scores of people”, (Sud-Ouest), the concert at the Palais des Sports which vibrated with the cheerings of the 1600 people who came to enjoy the last hours of this site before the start of the works, or also the party at the enclosed dock basins.
The picture would be incomplete if we didn’t evoke Erik Orsenna’s intervention at the water mirror on the last day of the event: on this occasion, he gave his vision of heritage and called for a constant reinvention of the heritage in a provocative way, “or else it would die!”, not without a hint of mischievousness.
Read in the Press:
“Successful bet for a demonstration which is not lenient on requirements. (the debates as well as the speakers are sharp) and does not engage in seduction.” (Sud-Ouest)
“Via the video media, the “Heritage:Inheritance/Heresy” exhibition, held in Bordeaux, was set up demonstrating an architecture on the move in an audacious staging.” (Libération)
“We don’t have Venice but we have Agora! The small Bordeaux-based architecture Biennale has found a way to convince the experts beyond boundaries without compromising on reaching to everyone”. (Figaro Madame).
Consult the Agora press coverage: click here.
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