arizona_road

collabor.at | playground > azra_aksamija > arizona_road

title [year, status] "arizona road" [2001, concept]

keywords installation

materials [dimensions] photo/interview/print/laminated sets [hand size]

references

links http://foundation.generali.at/index_e.htm
http://oe1.orf.at/2779txt_oe1_sub.html
http://www.buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de/katalog/v0202/v0202-p33-3-88375-622-9.htm

abstract Arizona Road: The urban phenomena of the largest black market in the Balkans

Arizona Road, examines the new urban phenomena of the largest black market in the Balkans, the "Arizona Market." Arizona Road was the name given by the American military to the North-South highway in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research projest focuses on the discovery and examination of new political, social, economic and urban conditions that have surfaced after the war in Bosnia. Arizona Road provides a unique opportunity to observe a birth of a city and actively shape it from an urbanistic and architectural standpoint.

Through the peculiarity of the market’s position and layout, the dynamics of its development, its function as a vehicle of hope for the preservation of peace, as well as the fierceness of war, the special geo-political status of the region, the concentration of foreign relief organizations and armed forces, and the injustice and conflicts in all social spheres, the Arizona Road reflects both a Bosnian and a larger European tragedy. In its variety of ways of life and mixture of nationalities and its wildly grown building forms that range from slums to extravagant palaces, Arizona Road fascinates with its urbanistic variety. Creative improvisation in the organization of private and public spaces, as well as an explosive growth of the “trading” area create a strange hybrid between an Eastern bazaar and a Las Vegas strip. The Arizona bazaar is a peculiar shopping paradise, an unintentional spectacle.

Resulting from a chain reaction of paradoxical conditions and governmental interventions, new wild and unplanned spatial configurations have appeared along this federal highway. The master plan, developed by the government of the Brcko district, has proposed to eliminate these forms and impose a higher order on all urbanistic and architectural development. My project opposes the ideas of the master plan, allowing for behavioral patterns of self-design to be incorporated into the renewal of the Arizona Road. I carry out targeted interventions that consider the history of the market, chanel its own creative energies towards a positive end, and encourage flexible urban development through self-organization.

title [year, status]	"arizona road" [2001, concept]
keywords	installation
materials [dimensions]	photo/interview/print/laminated sets [hand size]

references
links	http://foundation.generali.at/index_e.htm http://oe1.orf.at/2779txt_oe1_sub.html http://www.buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de/katalog/v0202/v0202-p33-3-88375-622-9.htm

abstract	Arizona Road: The urban phenomena of the largest black market in the Balkans Arizona Road, examines the new urban phenomena of the largest black market in the Balkans, the "Arizona Market." Arizona Road was the name given by the American military to the North-South highway in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research projest focuses on the discovery and examination of new political, social, economic and urban conditions that have surfaced after the war in Bosnia. Arizona Road provides a unique opportunity to observe a birth of a city and actively shape it from an urbanistic and architectural standpoint. Through the peculiarity of the market’s position and layout, the dynamics of its development, its function as a vehicle of hope for the preservation of peace, as well as the fierceness of war, the special geo-political status of the region, the concentration of foreign relief organizations and armed forces, and the injustice and conflicts in all social spheres, the Arizona Road reflects both a Bosnian and a larger European tragedy. In its variety of ways of life and mixture of nationalities and its wildly grown building forms that range from slums to extravagant palaces, Arizona Road fascinates with its urbanistic variety. Creative improvisation in the organization of private and public spaces, as well as an explosive growth of the “trading” area create a strange hybrid between an Eastern bazaar and a Las Vegas strip. The Arizona bazaar is a peculiar shopping paradise, an unintentional spectacle. Resulting from a chain reaction of paradoxical conditions and governmental interventions, new wild and unplanned spatial configurations have appeared along this federal highway. The master plan, developed by the government of the Brcko district, has proposed to eliminate these forms and impose a higher order on all urbanistic and architectural development. My project opposes the ideas of the master plan, allowing for behavioral patterns of self-design to be incorporated into the renewal of the Arizona Road. I carry out targeted interventions that consider the history of the market, chanel its own creative energies towards a positive end, and encourage flexible urban development through self-organization.