Ben Weir

tekenen, schrijven, publieke ruimte, Publicatie, installatie, Artistiek onderzoek

I (Ben Weir *1991, Belfast) work within the discipline (as opposed to the profession) of architecture. I denounce the notion of the architect as a neutral service provider. I draw, write, research and build. I work to uncover hidden spatial and material potentials. I generate projects through the survey of existing conditions, a process that invents as much as records. I favor dynamism, the unfinished, the open-to-change. I reject demolition and tabula rasa. I dissect, re-present and interrogate existing urban artifacts, seeking to express their current condition, situation, or relationship to us. I insert new objects into this environment, always seeking a positive contribution to a diverse, equitable and complex environment.

Earth Lamppost
Earth Lamppost - A lamppost in the form of a roofed, compressed earth column. A kind of wayfinding device, the motion-activated light guides the way from a camping ground to the public toilets during the dark evenings of the semi-rural location. Clayey subsoil was sourced from local groundworks contractor and the foundation constructed from demolition rubble from previous renovation works to the main barn. Rammed earth (clay, sand, gravel, lime, shells), lime mortar, ceramic tile, galvanised steel light fitting, plywood, demolition rubble, gravel; 90 x 36 x 180cm
Earth Shelf
Earth Shelf - A sculptural shelf made from compressed raw earth (30% clay, 35% crushed shells, 35% sand) and galvanised steel. Outcome of research into the built and natural environment of Zeeuws Vlaanderen. Produced at VierVaart, a place for camping, contemporary art and organic farming. Residency supported by the Mondriaan fonds.
Earth Shelf
Earth Shelf - A sculptural shelf made from compressed raw earth (30% clay, 35% crushed shells, 35% sand) and galvanised steel. Outcome of research into the built and natural environment of Zeeuws Vlaanderen. Produced at VierVaart, a place for camping, contemporary art and organic farming. Residency supported by the Mondriaan fonds.
Radiator Bench v2
Radiator Benches v2 - A former school building in an Estonian village is heated by thirteen wood-burning stoves. I used salvaged bricks to borrow some of their heat, like a kind of heat battery, and transfer it into a pair of new steel benches. On the opening of the exhibition we toured the benches through the town as the steel slowly took up heat from the bricks. Steel tube, steel box-section, threaded rod, hardware, wheels, plywood, firewood; 1500 x 500 x 650mm and; 1500 x 265 x 500mm Produced at VARES arhitektuuriresidentuur, within the framework of Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture.
Radiator bench v2
Radiator Benches v2 - A former school building in an Estonian village is heated by thirteen wood-burning stoves. I used salvaged bricks to borrow some of their heat, like a kind of heat battery, and transfer it into a pair of new steel benches. On the opening of the exhibition we toured the benches through the town as the steel slowly took up heat from the bricks. Steel tube, steel box-section, threaded rod, hardware, wheels, plywood, firewood; 1500 x 500 x 650mm and; 1500 x 265 x 500mm Produced at VARES arhitektuuriresidentuur, within the framework of Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture.
Radiator Benches - Permanent installation at Catalyst Arts, Belfast. Produced for the show 'Core is Concrete' curated by Kate Murphy. (2022) Steel beam, steel fin radiator, steel box-section, threaded rod, nuts, bolts, rubber, paint, 2000 x 500 x 460mm; 1250 x 500 x 460mm Photography: © Simon Mills
Radiator Benches - Permanent installation at Catalyst Arts, Belfast. Produced for the show 'Core is Concrete' curated by Kate Murphy. (2022) Steel beam, steel fin radiator, steel box-section, threaded rod, nuts, bolts, rubber, paint, 2000 x 500 x 460mm; 1250 x 500 x 460mm Photography: © Simon Mills
A Façade for an Artist Studio - A permanent installation to the guest artist’s studio in Greylight Projects, Heerlen. (2023) Spruce, scaffold pole, polycarbonate, wood stain, 3600 x 3535 x 1020mm
A Façade for an Artist Studio - A permanent installation to the guest artist’s studio in Greylight Projects, Heerlen. (2023) Spruce, scaffold pole, polycarbonate, wood stain, 3600 x 3535 x 1020mm
Peutz Sconce - A folded stainless-steel sconce, translating a fragment of the work of Heerlen architect Frits Peutz (1896-1974) into a domestic object. Stainless-steel, mild steel, nuts and bolts, LED tube lamp, 760 x 555 x 309mm Produced during a residency at Greylight Projects, Heerlen (2022)
Charged Space - A vitrine and a lamppost, a night time street scene inside a former psychiatric hospital. Solo show at 3bisF Lieu d'art Contemporain, Curated by Diane Pigeau. Plywood, plexiglass, steel, paint, lighting fixtures (2022)
Casa Vilaró - Study of Casa Vilaró (built 1930) produced during residency with Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, ??and BOZAR, Brussels. Pigmented MDF, steel plinths, dimensions variable. (2020) Photography: © Jóse Hevia
Casa Vilaró - Study of Casa Vilaró (built 1930) produced during residency with Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, ??and BOZAR, Brussels. (2020) Pigmented MDF, steel plinths, dimensions variable. Photography: © Jóse Hevia
Brick Poems - A series of compositions made with bricks salvaged from the demolition sites of historic buildings in Belfast. (2020)
1600=1600 - A fire is inserted into a Modernist building that was never supposed to contain one, yet somehow still belongs. Aerated-concrete block, concrete, fire brick, stainless-steel stove accessories, 4.89 x 4.32 x 6.65m. (2019) Photography: © Werner Mantz lab

Residency at RAVI

Datum:
Locatie: Liege
In samenwerking met: RAVI

Residues of Eden

Datum:
Locatie: The Complex
In samenwerking met: The Complex, Glandwr

Guest critic KABK, studio INSIDE

Datum:
In samenwerking met: KABK

Mondriaan Fonds Research residency at VierVaart

Datum:
Locatie: VierVaart, West Zeeuws Vlaanderen
In samenwerking met: Mondriaan Funds

Valga Arhitektuuriresidentuur, VARES

Datum:
Locatie: Estonia

A residency about making heated furniture with whatever comes to hand

Guest Critic RAvB

Datum:
In samenwerking met: Hogeschool Rotterdam

BORDERLANDS residency at Greylight Projects

Datum:
Locatie: Heerlen
In samenwerking met: Kulturraum Niederrhein a.V.

Autumn residency as part of the Borderland Residencies programme, a unique network of art residencies in the Maas-Rhine Euregion. I was studying the work of Heerlen architect Frits Peutz and its relationship to the post-mining city.

Core is Concrete

Datum:
Locatie: Catalyst Arts
In samenwerking met: Fenton Arts Trust

Permanent furniture installation, alongside interventions by Niamh Seana-Meehan and Tanad Aaron

Charged Space

Datum:
Locatie: 3bisF - Lieu d'Arts Contemporains

Solo show

Casa Vilaró: A Caress and a Blow

Datum:
Locatie: Fundacio Mies vd Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion

Exhibition of residency outcome, launch of publication, public talk.

3 bis F

Datum:

A contemporary arts center of national interest (CACIN) set within the Montperrin Psychiatric Hospital. The residency included workshops with patients and staff about measuring space and objects, and concluded with a solo show in the exhibition hall which explored the notion of buildings-inside-buildings.

Not Quite Nearly Fine

Datum:
Locatie: Fondazione Baruchello

Presentation of recorded reading of short story, published in a book of the same name. Group show featuring Anne Huijnen, Artun Alaska Arasli, Ben Weir, Daniel de Paula, Giulio Squillacciotti, Marie Claire Krell, Marwan Moujaes, Nour Mobarak.

Irish Modernisms: Legacies of Modernism in the North

Datum:
Locatie: CCA Derry~Londonderry

Group show featuring James Ashe, Phillip McCrilly, Grace McMurry, Rachael Campbell-Palmer, Ben Weir

Research Associate

Datum:
Locatie: CCA Derry~Londonderry
ccadld.org

Artists in Architecture: Re-Activating Modern European Heritage

Datum:
Locatie: BOZAR

Studio Tutor

Datum:
Locatie: Queen's University

Development and co-running of Master's in Architecture postgraduate program, including field trips, lecture series, design of student project briefs and studio methodology

Artists in Architecture: Re-Activating Modern European Houses

Datum:
Locatie: Casa Vilaro
In samenwerking met: Mies van der Rohe Foundation (Barcelona), University of Naples Federico II (Naples) and BOZAR (Brussels)

A Creative Europe program of the European Union in the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 (EYCH), which sought to unlock various issues related to the preservation, adaptation and (re)activation of European architectural heritage. I was placed in the 1930 villa Casa Vilaro, the 'first rationalist house in Spain.'

https://miesbcn.com/calendar/residence-artists-in-architecture-reactivating-modern-houses-ben-weir-at-casa-vilaro/

GET LOST art route 2019

Datum:
Locatie: Sloterdijk

Temporary architectural installation in public space, collaboration with artist Andrea Canepa

Van Eyck Open Studios

Datum:
Locatie: Jan Van Eyck Academie

Built intervention alongside 46 participating artists, designers, architects, curators and writers

DU 2017

Datum:
Locatie: Maastricht
In samenwerking met: Stichting Destination Unknown

8 person show resulting from 2 month residency occupying 3 empty anti-squat houses prior to their demolition

Jan van Eyck Academie

Datum:

Participant at post-academic institute

Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas

Datum:
Locatie: Talbot Street

Temporary architectural installation in public space, alongside curated program of performances, talks, sound installations from invited guests

EVERYTHINGGETSTREATEDTHESAME/

Datum:
Locatie: Framewerk

Exhibition alongside book launch

DU2017

Datum:

Nomadic residency program. Eight emerging artists selected to occupy three anti-squat houses on Henri Jonasslaan in Caberg.

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