'weak potentials' exhibition by jakob sellaoui challenges the formalized world of building

located at magazin exhibition space for contemporary architecture, in vienna, the ‘weak potentials’ exhibition by studio jakob sellaoui investigates the nature of construction as an open archive, uncovering both the pleasures and disappointments of the material world. looking at the act of making as more than just a means to an end, the objective is to examine the building process as a fragile territory, where form is constantly re-negotiated. 

all images by kunst dokumentation

the exhibition by studio jakob sellaoui is the result of a procedure of material exercises, assembled on-site. forming ‘quasiarchitectures’ scattered among the different rooms, like characters inhabiting the space, actual building situations are generated that seem to have been cropped and removed from their natural physical habitats. despite emerging from the realm of everyday construction materials, their tectonic protocols have been suspended; the script has been re-written. supporting structures, by-products and makeshift-tactics take over, hijacking the formalized world of building.

crude junctions, soft links and fragile connections navigate uncertainty as the rule rather than the exception. abandoning the belief of arriving at ideal scenarios or permanent solutions, weak potentials explores the possibility of a ‘good-enough architecture’, in which the non-iconic, fleeting and frail persists.

project info:

name: weak potentials
design studio: jakob sellaoui
location: magazin – exhibition space for contemporary architecture, vienna

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom