The strengths and weaknesses of our cities are becoming more apparent every day. Strained by a global pandemic, increasing division and inequality and the growing threat of climate crisis, we find ourselves re-evaluating the role of our built environment on our shared quality of life. The potential for the city to function in our common interests requires us to maintain an idea of what a city should be, and public space is always central to this vision.
— David Chipperfield
RAM Assembles is a new biennial festival for interdisciplinary thinking in architecture and design, jointly launched by Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) and the ROCKBUND team. The inaugural artistic director is Pritzker Prize-winning architect David Chipperfield, whose new museum entrance and Museum Plaza open on September 22, completing his 17-year association with the storied ROCKBUND neighbourhood.
Located at the north of the famous Bund in central Shanghai, the ROCKBUND neighborhood is a collection of historic architecture buit from 1896-1932. These buildings represent examples of Shanghai's Art Deco style, characteristic of the city's late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century architecture in which European building styles were combined with Asian elements. In recent years the buildings have undergone vanious renovations and adaptations. In the early 2000s, David Chipperfield Architects was commissioned to restore, update and convert eleven historic buildings of the ROCKBUND. Chipperfield also designed a new extension to the Art Deco building that was originally built for the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) and now houses the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM), in addition to a new RAM entrance and Museum Plaza.
To mark the completion of the ROCKBUND construction project and the opening of the new museum entrance and Museum Plaza, RAM has launched RAM Assembles – a biennial festival of architectural thinking. The aim of RAM Assembles is to bring together diverse perspectives on historical and new architecture, engaging a wide range of fields concerning contemporary architecture, urbanism, art, and design. For each edition of this new biennial, the RAM team, led by its artistic director X Zhu-Nowell, will choose an architect as an artistic director to create a new architectural intervention in the ROCKBUND neighborhood, with a specific focus on the Museum Plaza.
For the first edition, RAM has chosen architect David Chipperfield as its artistic director to celebrate his long association with this site and the completion of his work with the ROCKBUND neighborhood. RAM Assembles has also created a network of collaborations with curators, institutions, universities, architecture studios, artists, and creative companies, inviting globally-minded experts and professional teams to work together and co-create this distinctive public cultural event. The International Advisory Committee includes: curator Hou Hanru, Li Xiangning, Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, and Caroline A. Jones, Professor of Art and Architecture Theory at MIT.
Chipperfield's curatorial theme of Public Space takes art beyond the museum walls and integrates it into the daily life of the ROCKBUND. It breaks down the static boundaries of traditional institutions in favor of the spontaneity and multiplicity of urban life and "in between" spaces. Chipperfield's design interventions expand the physicality of the new Museum Plaza, providing new public spaces for these activities that are flexible rather than prescriptive, imbued with purpose yet not restricted to specific functions, and they mediate the relationship between performance and informality. Chipperfield comments:
These are the alleyways and back lanes, the street corners embelished by roaming vendors, the familiar portico, or the bench for a casual conversation between friends. They inform the daily negotiation between our public and private realms. The traditional communities of Shanghai preserve chenshed memories of such spaces. In a non-western context where public squares are less prevalent, these liminal spaces are rendered yet more important as they provide room to be part of something and to share space and time.
The inaugural RAM Assembles represents a moment to enhance our understanding of perceiving, using, designing, sharing, and responding to public spaces. It is an opportunity to celebrate urban vitality and complexity, driving the creativity of the city and enriching our experiences in a rapidly changing world. RAM Artistic Director X Zhu- Nowell comments:
RAM has long been invested in the contemporary and historic culture of the Bund area and committed to creating a kind of cross-pollination of collaborations between the local communities. We hope the opening of Chipperfield's new Museum Plaza and RAM Assembles can further RAM's ambition to create a social and creative gathering space.
Consider the ROCKBUND area as a dynamic site for experimentation, activations, and interventions, RAM Assembles will expand the museum's current exhibition and research program beyond its walls and prompt further exploration of the emerging social conditions of our time.
由上海外滩美术馆（RAM）与洛克·外滩源（ROCKBUND）联合发起，上海外滩投资开发（集团）有限公司指导的全新项目“RAM Assembles外滩建筑节”（RAMA外滩建筑节），于2023年9月22日正式亮相。首届特邀普利兹克奖得主、建筑师戴卫·奇普菲尔德（David Chipperfield）出任艺术总监，以“公共空间”为主题，举办百余场艺术活动和思想对谈，以此引燃建筑与设计领域的跨学科思维，丰富人们对公共空间的感知与经验，庆祝城市的多元活力。由戴卫·奇普菲尔德主持设计的上海外滩美术馆全新入口与博物院广场也于当日全面开启，迎来奇普菲尔德同洛克·外滩源长达17年合作的又一力作。
洛克·外滩源百年建筑街区坐落于黄浦江与苏州河的交汇处，汇聚了众多建造于1896年至1932年的传奇建筑，它们兼容并蓄欧洲建筑风格与亚洲元素，彰显了19世纪至20世纪之交上海典型的装饰艺术风格。近年来，这些建筑经历了多轮翻新与改建。千禧年初，戴卫奇普菲尔德建筑事务所（David Chipperfield Architects）受邀修缮、更新和改造洛克·外滩源的11栋历史保护建筑以及众安·美丰大楼，并对美术馆全新入口与博物院广场进行改建，为上海外滩美术馆所在的亚洲文会大楼添建新翼。
"RAM Assembles 外滩建筑节” 每两年举办一届，旨在汇集多种历史上的与新的建筑思考，跨学科性地思考建筑与设计，涉及当代建筑、城市规划、艺术和设计等多个领域。每届RAMA外滩建筑节，上海外滩美术馆都将邀请一位建筑师作为艺术总监，对洛克·外滩源街区进行一次新的介入，并特别关注博物院广场这一空间。RAMA外滩建筑节将外滩作为一个实验激活与介入的动态场域，延伸美术馆当前的展览和研究项目，鼓励进一步探索当代社会中浮现的新议题。戴卫·奇普菲尔德身为洛克·外滩源主持修缮建筑师，成为首届RAMA外滩建筑节艺术总监的不二人选。上海外滩美术馆将协同策展人、学者、作者、戏剧家、音乐家、艺术家以及洛克·外滩源合作网络，邀请具有全球视野的专家和专业团队携手共创RAMA外滩建筑节这一独特的公共文化活动。首届国际顾问委员会成员为国际策展人侯瀚如、同济大学建筑与城市规划学院院长李翔宁以及麻省理工大学艺术与建筑理论教授卡罗琳·A·琼斯（Caroline A. Jones）。
以“公共空间”为题
戴卫·奇普菲尔德的策划主题“公共空间”让艺术飞越博物馆之墙，融入洛克·外滩源的日常生活。它打破传统机构的静态边界，激发城市生活和间隙空间的自发性和多样性。奇普菲尔德的空间介入装置扩展了全新博物院广场的实体，实现了灵活的、极富导向性的、但不限于特定功能的全新公共空间，它们调和了戏剧性与日常性之间的关系。
戴卫·奇普菲尔德表示：“那可能是里弄和后巷，是点缀着流动小贩的街角，是某个熟悉的门廊，抑或是朋友之间适意畅谈的长凳。他们为公共与私人领域之间的互通提供了凭依。上海的传统社区保有对这些空间的珍贵记忆。因而这些临界空间就显得更加重要。这是因为，它们提供了人与人之间交融聚汇、共享时空的场所。”
空间介入装置
戴卫·奇普菲尔德及其团队为首届“RAM Assembles外滩建筑节”特别创作了全新的空间介入装置，旨在激活环境中的间隙空间以回应“公共空间”这一主题。与常规的建筑艺术装置迥异，戴卫·奇普菲尔德从一开始就提出避免再造一个奇观化的物件；相反，他选择关注城市空间对公共生活的承载力的方式，将这些装置分散在博物院广场及周边里弄，使之成为街区内历史建筑的低调延伸。其创造的空间被用作各种自发城市行为，例如休闲、集聚、表演。这些装置与RAMA外滩建筑节日程相结合，催化一系列同步、多地点的活动，从而引导洛克·外滩源场地之间的相互关联与穿行体验。
戴卫·奇普菲尔德说道：“场所的公共性取决于其所能承载的活动，而不仅是其建成形态。它依赖于物理环境，但同样取决于社会基础设施，譬如人与人之间的默契链接，以及分享和参与的意愿。我们希望RAMA外滩建筑节能成为启动这一进程的催化剂。”他进一步表示，“首届RAMA外滩建筑节将提升公众认知，令我们意识到自己是如何感知、使用、设计和响应公共空间。这亦会是颂赞城市活力和复杂性的佳时。正是这活力和复杂性推动了城市的创造力，并改善着我们在这日新月异的世界中的体感与经验。”
开幕论坛
2023年9月21日，RAMA外滩建筑节开幕论坛邀请普利兹克奖得主戴卫·奇普菲尔德、中国科学院院士郑时龄、同济大学建筑与城市规划学院院长李翔宁、戴卫奇普菲尔德建筑事务所合伙人陈立缤、上海外滩美术馆馆长刘迎九以及建筑策展人唐克扬作为论坛嘉宾齐聚于博物院广场，从洛克·外滩源项目的源起，到城市现场的空间装置，结合此空间本身的历史、设计和使用，进行回顾与展望，与“公共空间”本身产生对话 。开幕当日另有艺术家吴艳丹（Nunu KONG）、朱哲琴、马海平和音乐工作室墨音MOIN在广场及建筑不同的空间分别带来舞蹈和音乐演出。
百余场艺术活动激活多场景公共空间
2023年9月22日起，为期两周的“RAM Assembles外滩建筑节”正式开始，共计超过一百场活动围绕戴卫·奇普菲尔德及其团队所设计的“空间介入装置”展开，以“激活、对谈、街区”三个系列对“公共空间”这一主题进行拆解和实践：
“激活”系列 邀请艺术家及策划人赵川、殷漪，音乐家熊柯嘉和音乐工作室墨音MOIN，共同策划了百余场活动，借助艺术家在音乐、剧场、身体、空间中的创新实践，让公众重新触摸共享的时刻，期待平凡中萌动的惊喜和启迪。
“对谈”系列 由建筑策展人唐克扬和建筑设计师陈立缤共同策划，围绕空间的事物、影像、花园、科技等10个话题带来10场“城市嘉话”。该系列邀请讲者和/或对话人身处博物院广场和周边通道的不同位置，借助一些简单的演讲道具进行演讲或对谈，分享从自己领域出发的心得，与人群进行交流，与空间本身产生对话。
“街区”系列由城市历史研究者徐明策划，包含了一系列以公共空间为载体的空间运营实践，包括“数字游民市集”、“愚人书市”和向公众征集作品的洛克・外滩源街区主题展。其主旨在于结合最新的数字技术重塑曾常见于上海公共空间中的烟火气。
值得一提的是，此次“RAM Assembles外滩建筑节”以多种形式拆解“公共空间”这一主题，反思当下人们过度依赖视觉刺激和社交媒体的现象。同时，除了预先安排的精彩活动，亦有大量即兴的表演与公众参与环节，以此激发“那些松散、临时性、间隙性的公共空间”。
