Architectures of time, form and meaning

On Wednesday the Alte Saline in Hallein was the scene of a remarkable session featuring the diverse, yet complementary, talents of Christopher Roth, Harald Trapp, and Mathieu Wellner.

Christopher Roth is a writer, director and artist. He presented parts of his 80*81 project, which re-examines the crucial years of change 1980-81, which, he suggests, saw the end of communism and the rise of neo-liberalism. The project has led to a series of books, peformances and exhibitions, and covers a scope which is hard to summarise. In Hallein he did so by performance: a re-enactment of one of the most infamous events of 1981: the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, with Harald Trapp playing the Pope and Mathieu Wellner would be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.

Harald Trapp is a writer and architect who has been trying to rethink what architecture actually is, and working on a book seeking to explain what it can be. He discussed the notion that architecture originally was about hiding and concealment - and thus carries connotations of control and even suppression - in sharp contrast to contemporary notion of inclusiveness. In his attempt to visualise a grand theory of architecture he has returned to its roots and looked to its future, and realised the role of the observer in defining the concept of architectural form.

Mathieu Wellner is a theoretical architect who described a specific project titled “Transitory”. This involved finding synonyms for the word “transitory”, and then inviting a number of people - including artists - to pick one synonym and explain their choice and the meanings and connotations the word in question carries for them. The result is a complex of meditations both philosophic and aesthetic.