ObjeXs is an art installation in memory of the Institute for X, which was partly demolished in Aarhus in 2019. It is a gift to the college of architecture built in X’s place of birth. It attempts to counter-actualize—that is to say, to give a radically new sense—to the partial destruction of X by transforming some of the objects in the soon-to-be-demolished houses into speaking more-than-objects carrying with them “affects” or corporeal traces of the feelings and emotions of X members, visitors, and friends as a gift to those who will inhabit this space in the future. Put differently: we wanted to engage in a sort of animist transformation of seemingly silent and lifeless objects into “assemblages of enunciation” or collections of voices capable of carrying with them ideas, feelings, and wishes from those who have worked in, joined, or visited, X at some point, so that not only the objects themselves but also such wishes, feelings, and ideas move to the new places where they will be located.
We asked the members and visitors of X to write their messages—preferably a word or a brief phrase that encapsulated their feelings and/or wishes—on one of the objects making the sculpture in an attempt to help X to remain alive in this way in its place of birth.
The catalog made by Nienke Voorintholt with information about the history of the objects of this Art installation
The artworks ended as a box of ashes that we in the representation of Institute for (X) gave to the Architecture school in Aarhus, our neighbours, as a gift to create a statement and open dialogue on the process of gentrification.
This project was launched by Beatriz Gonzalez Rodriguez.