Anton Schwingen
In the near future we will have to change the way we build. The reclamation and re-use of building components, which was ubiquitous until the early 20th century will become the new normal.
The Theatre of Matters is a storage, an inventory facilitating the shift to re-using building components. To reintroduce the typology of the salvage yard within the city centre, the yard becomes a vertical building. Here familiar building components are suspended in mid-air, alienated from their origin, and not yet repurposed in a new context. The entire building is subject to a constant flux, reclaimed things arrive, those having found a new use leave the building but for the period they are stored, they are in a state of limbo. A state which challenges our habitual perception of these familiar things and makes unforeseen recombination possible. The Theatre becomes a space to observe juxtaposition, to negotiate the city of the past and its future, to debate matters. It is a public institution allowing its users to continuously reshape it and thus a stark contrast to the highly controlled environment of shopping centres and leisure complexes in central Milton Keynes.
