IM INTERVIEW | A2ARQUITECTOS

5 QUESTIONS ABOUT PERCEPTION, TRANSFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHY

IM INTERVIEW | A2 ARQUITECTOS.

Q1: WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
A: We are Christian Sant Andreu and Juan Manzanares. We are a2 Arquitectos. We are a small Architecture Bureau in Madrid and in Palma de Mallorca. We do architecture. But we try to put some unusual space into our works. We create spaces that often get more related to the art world instead of to the architectural world.
We did, for example, a kindergarten for a hotel in Mallorca where we built a cabin full of small installation rooms. Kids could go in and interact with texture, space, colors. And the most important installation in this space was the kaleidoscope which was 9m x 2m, where kids could go in and interact.

Q 2: DID YOU HAVE A KALEIDOSCOPE WHEN YOU WERE CHILDREN? AND WHAT IS THE FASCINATION ABOUT IT?
A: Yes. The idea arose because we played with kaleidoscopes. They are toys of previous generations. We had the idea to transform this traditional toy into big scale. So that people could go inside, experience it and interact with it.
For me, the fascination about the kaleidoscope is that you see things from a different point of view. A point of view which is not really the usual one. It is similar to the effect of a camera. You perceive images that you wouldn’t get with a human eye. So the kaleidoscope is a tool that does the same. It transforms reality and lets you enter into another reality.

Q 3: WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE IN YOUR INSTALLATION?
A: The idea is to create lots of infinite worlds. Every person who enters the installation provokes a different world by their own reflection. The sound, the movement, the people, the lights (natural or artificial) are creating different spaces and different worlds.

Q 4: HOW MANY KALEIDOSCOPES HAVE YOU MADE?
A: It’s our second one. The interesting thing about the first one is that it is part of a building. It is not an installation like here. When the OLYMPUSPHOTOGRAPHY PLAYGROUND contacted us, we found it interesting to take a piece of a building and to transform it into an installation. It’s also a kind of transformation.

Q 5: IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPERIENCING A KALEIDOSCOPE INSIDE OR OUTSIDE? AND WHAT DOES PHOTOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTETO YOUR INSTALLATION?
A: It’s is really different. When you look at it from the outside it multiplies the background and the user is an object in this background. It’s a game of shadow and light. When you have the kaleidoscope inside a building, like here, it’s more a game of light and color.
To capture this, photography is essential. As I said, for us the kaleidoscope is a tool. As a camera also is. So when you use photography inside the kaleidoscope, you get images that a human being normally wouldn’t get.

Thank you very much.

Photo © Miguel Martinez