Live Architecture

Live architecture is an exhibition display for the XII Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennale.

In 1996, Axis Communcations introduced NetEye 200, the first commercially available IP camera, which arrived to revolutionize the video surveillance market. Unlike traditional closed-circuit monitoring networks, the technology introduced by Axis Communcations used internet connections to broadcast life images from the point of origin to the point of reception. This achievement was complemented by immense improvements in image compression techniques and network capacity, making this type of service accessible to the general public. The irruption of these devices began to fill the internet with public access images of streets, ATMs, train stations, doorways, offices, living rooms and other random situations. The image of the city began to be shaped as a collage combining domestic and public -, open and closed -, accessible and remote spaces. The target of these cameras is increasingly focused on the individuals who appear in these images, who, through the development of a wide range of tools, from facial recognition technology to tracking devices, are increasingly subject to surveillance and control. The point of view of these images is decisive. In the words of Mario Santamaría, it is “a functional point of view”, chosen to optimize all these types of tools. This provides us with a radically different experience of space, now freed from physical barriers, accessible through the screen. Architecture becomes a sort of background, enabling actions to take place and facilitating control. Live Architecture was the exhibition of the XII Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. To display the most representative projects selected by the jury, 36 IP video surveillance cameras were installed to broadcast live images from the winning sites to the exhibition space at Matadero Madrid. Live Architecture was the first architecture exhibition whose content were live images.

Live architecture is a project by Taller de Casquería (E. Fuertes, R. Martínez, A. Molins, J. Sobejano, I. de Antonio, L. Pérez, A. Rodríguez) produced in 2013. The outcome was photographed by Maru Serrano.