Gabriel Hafner

Vers une architecture faible
Whether we use our hands or, more recently, extensions, we shape our objects in our own image and that of our representations. In return, objects respond to us, reflecting us back to ourselves, our ideas and our behaviour. I would like to defend the idea that an object – over and above its functionality – is a language and a means of communication.
Using paper and beeswax, I have made a wall that looks like a folding screen, or a folding screen that looks like a wall, in praise of the delicate, the fragile. I think there’s something fair and charming about appreciating fragile things. The times of performance, eternity and progress are ideas that will crumble. In our multipolar present, they will gently give way to the time of the weak. By weak, I don’t mean feverish and unstable, but rather flexible, light and adaptable.
The brick wall I’ve built won’t save the world, but it can suggest a new one. A post-industrial world that appreciates delicate objects and weak architecture. A post-productivist world where we build with our hands, using organic and non-noxious materials. My wall probably won’t be able to support a big roof, but because it’s so light, we’ll always be able to place it where it’s appreciated; because it’s so delicate, it’ll always be pampered; and because it’s so fragile, it will be looked after. If objects could talk, this one would praise vulnerability. Could it be a source of inspiration?