news release: 2003
Seek.02
Friday 4 July 2003, 2030h, free entry
Christian Grou and Tapio Snellman present a unique screening of their latest video film 'Seek.02' at the NCP Metro Garage, 7-11 Hearn Street, London EC2A 3LS
Grou and Snellman formed the practice deceptively-named 'Neutral' on completing their architectural studies. Their work is dedicated to an engagement with architecture not as building design, but as moving images. In parallel with their collaboration with top architects (Zaha Hadid, Hertzog & de Meuron, Caruso St John, David Chipperfield) in creating visualisations of new projects, their ongoing exploration of video as the means of articulating an emotional response to the built environment has resulted in the series 'Seek'.
'Seek.01' (first presented in 2000 at 291 Gallery, a huge ex-church space in east London, and later as part of 'Cities on the Move' at the Hayward) was a reflection on their experience of the illegible city, Tokyo. 'Seek.02' draws on observations of Mumbai (Bombay) and London, exchanging the familiar with the exotic in a meditation on the commonality of urban experience and on the individual's subjectivity among a multitude of strangers. The unusual setting for the screening on 4 July re-inserts their film into the fabric of the city.
Neutral (est. 1999)
background
Tapio Snellman (b. Helsinki, 1969), architectural studies
Stuttgart and London, architectural practice Tokyo and London, since
1999 neutral.
Christian Grou (b. Bucharest, 1969), architectural studies
Stuttgart and Tokyo, art director, graphic designer, video maker
Stuttgart, Tokyo, New York, London, since 1999 neutral.
selected video work
Seek.01, 1998 (291 Gallery, London, Hayward Gallery, London,
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki)
Shinjuku Myriapod, 1998: self-produced mixed media animation
film investigating the issues of urban homelessness. (Tokyo University
Department of Architecture)
Evil, 2000: music promo horror video clip for the band
'Cinema' (screened on MTV etc.)
Center of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2001: Video animation
about Zaha Hadid's design
Eyebeam Atelier Museum of Art and Technology, 2001: competition
entry video with David Chipperfield Architects, London: New York
Football Stadium, Munich, 2002: video animation about the
winning competition entry by Herzog & de Meuron
Ideastore, 2002: David Adjaye's design for Whitechapel
Library, London, for Biennale di Venezia
Lufthansa Opener, 2003: in flight video (Lufthansa airlines)
selected exhibitions/festivals
Cities on the Move, traveling Exhibition on new urbanity
in East Asia, London and Helsinki, 1999-2000
Venice Architecture Biennale 2000, with Zaha Hadid, Italian
Pavillion and Austrian Pavillion
Great Expectations, Touring Design Council Exhibition
about excellence in British design, New York and other North American
cities, 2001-2002
Great Expectations, Touring Design Council Exhibition
about excellence in British design,Shanghai, Tokyo, Melbourne and
Sydney, 2002-2003
Oltre I Media, Festival Internazionale di Architettura
in Video, Firenze, May 2002
Venice Architecture Biennale 2002, with David Chipperfield,
Adjaye Associates, Herzog & de Meuron
Onedotzero, London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, May
2003
images © Neutral 2002
