Waiting Rooms of Architecture

What precedes architecture? Architect and artist Malgorzata Maria Olchowska explores how personal and collective memories influence our view of the built environment. At the invitation of the Flanders Architecture Institute, she engages in dialogue with the collection of the Red Star Line Museum.

Malgorzata Maria Olchowska
For architect and artist Malgorzata Maria Olchowska (°1982 Bartoszyce, Polen), houses, streets and squares have different layers of meaning. The structures you see tell you something about a city’s past and future. The way we view these places changes a lot over time and often depends on the zeitgeist.

"The Red Star Line Museum tells the story of the people who left for another world. I focus on what remains – the building and, by extension, the city as an artefact."
‐ Malgorzata Maria Olchowska

Olchowska seeks to connect with places where the history of the Red Star Line buildings is most tangible. In the large shed, where passengers deposited their luggage, you will discover many artworks that interact with the museum collection. Photos and postcards, taken or sent by emigrants, strikingly resemble the artist’s prints of constructed landscapes in which each viewer with their own memories recognizes different elements. The sculpture of Saïf Lama, who fled Syria, enters into dialogue with the black-and-white photographs of ships and the exhibition scenography. The film I am not going to cry shows luggage or cargo in the form of building elements. They symbolize the endless tearing down and rebuilding of European cities. In addition, at some places in the museum rooms you will see historical photos that make the connection with the place where you are standing today. There you will discover the model series Verdwenen Stad that appeals for its part to your imagination. Time becomes tangible in this exhibition. Experience the layers that make up buildings and cities through the generations that bravely helped to build them, waiting for what follows.

"Our brain sees something and reconstructs it based on things we saw or experienced in the past. My work arises in the same way – it is made up of constructed images."
‐ Malgorzata Maria Olchowska