Unfolding fronts | Unfolding fronts

Daniel Tudor Munteanu: I was born in 1980. I am an architect and urban planner and I live in Suceava, Romania. I studied in Romania (University of Iași) and in the Netherlands (University of Eindhoven). From time to time, in compensation for my sometimes dry and unspectacular daily practice, I also write or engage in various critical exercises. My graphic texts and essays have been published in publications such as "San Rocco", "Volumes", "Log" or "Bones", to name a few. I have exhibited work at the 5th Shenzhen Urbanism Architecture Biennale and contributed to "OfficeUS", the US Pavilion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2015 I curated the chapter "Aformal Academy/ Pedagogical Infrastructure" for the 6th Shenzhen Biennial of Urbanism\ Architecture and was invited to contribute to the catalog titled "The State of the Art of Architecture" for the Chicago Biennial of Architecture, which is expected to be published this fall by Lars Mueller Publishers. In 2016 I curated, together with the Italian critic Davide Tommaso Ferrando, the first edition of Unfolding Pavilion for the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale.

C.B.: Although you write for prestigious theoretical architectural publications such as "San Rocco", "Clog" and "Oase", among your Romanian colleagues you are known, if I am not mistaken, mainly for your work as curator of the online archive "OfHouses". Has this personal project in any way affected your public image, your network of friends and connections, and eventually even the production of Unfolding Pavilion? How important is this online presence or footprint for an architect interested in both theory and practice?

D.T.M.: Indeed, I am the founder and editor of the research project "OfHouses - a collection of old and forgotten houses" (www.ofhouses.com), where I carefully document and publish material about houses that were built more than 20 years ago and have been forgotten.

At first I was publishing independent projects based solely on my personal taste, but I quickly got bored of that. After that, I started to group 7 houses in 3-week selections dedicated to an architect (Ruy Ohtake, Décio Tozzi and Paul Rudolph in the early days) or a group of architects (L.A. School). After that, I started inviting architects, critics and bloggers to select the 7 houses themselves. So far we have had 34 guest curators from 5 continents, who have published around 350 projects.

"OfHouses has a very strong social media presence with around 25,000 subscribers split between Facebook and Tumblr. In my view, this is a natural evolution from a "static" website. A website functions mainly for archiving purposes, while its content is actually distributed through social networks, which are more suited to a fast surfing and less attention-sensitive audience. In addition to increased visibility, this solution also provides faster feedback and facilitates much-needed discussion.

As you get to know your visitors closely and make direct contact with them, you often find yourself exclaiming: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!". Your network of friends grows exponentially and this certainly affects your offline activity. It basically opens up countless opportunities.

Unfolding Pavilion grew organically, out of the "OfHouses" project.

In 2014, I invited Davide Tommaso Ferrando to contribute to my collection. A few months later, he interviewed me for his online magazine "011+". We stayed in touch and somehow, with the coming of winter, an idea came to us: 'Why not organize an independent exhibition for the upcoming Biennale?' He was in Alicante, I was in Suceava. Although it seemed unlikely, two weeks later we already had a solid curatorial concept and had reserved a space for the Venice exhibition.

Daniel Tudor Munteanu: I was born in 1980. I'm a practicing architect and urban planner based in Suceava, Romania. I was educated in Romania (University of Technology Iasi) and The Netherlands (Eindhoven University of Technology). As a counterpart to an arid and unspectacular daily practice, I occasionally write and engage in different critical ventures. My texts and graphic essays were published in "San Rocco", "Volume", "Log" or "Oase", to mention just a few. I have exhibited at the 5th "Urbanism\Architecture Bi-city Biennale"' in Shenzhen and contributed to "OfficeUS", the U.S. Pavilion for the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2015 I curated the "Aformal Academy/Pedagogical Infrastructure" chapter for the 6th Shenzhen "Urbanism\Architecture Bi-city Biennale" and I was invited to contribute to "The State of the Art of Architecture" catalog for the Chicago Architecture Biennale, expected to be released this autumn by Lars Mueller Publishers. In 2016 I curated, together with the Italian critic Davide Tommaso Ferrando, the first Unfolding Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale.

C.B: Even though you write for prestigious architectural theory magazines as "San Rocco", "Clog" and "Oase" you are mostly prominent for your Romanian peers, if I am not wrong, through your online activity as curator of the online archive "OfHouses". Has this personal project affected your public persona, your network of friends and connections, and ultimately even the production of the Unfolding Pavilion? How important is this personal online presence or footprint for an architect interested in both theory and practice?

D.T.M: Indeed, I am the founder and editor of the research project "OfHouses - a collection of old forgotten houses" (www.ofhouses.com), where I carefully document and publish overlooked houses built more than 20 years ago.

In the beginning I published unrelated projects, based only on my personal taste, but I got bored with it pretty quickly. Then, I began to group 7 houses in 3-week-long selections, documenting an architect (Ruy Ohtake, Décio Tozzi and the early Paul Rudolph) or a group of architects (L.A. School). Up to this day, there have been 34 guest curators from 5 continents and around 350 projects were published.

"OfHouses" has a very strong presence on social media, with around 25.000 subscribers divided between Facebook and Tumblr. It is, I believe, a natural progression from a "static" website. The website functions mainly for archival purposes, while its content is in fact distributed via social networks, which are more suitable for quick mobile browsing by an audience with shorter attention spans. Apart of the boost in visibility, this also enhances a rapid feedback and enables very necessary discussions.

Because you can get to intimately know your audience and establish direct contact with it, more than often you may feel in the position to exclaim "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship". Indeed, your network of friends grows exponentially and it certainly affects your offline activity as well. It unlocks a world of opportunities.

The Unfolding Pavilion grew organically from "OfHouses".

Back in 2014, I invited Davide Tommaso Ferrando to contribute to the collection. A few months later, he interviewed me for his online magazine "011+". We kept in contact and somehow in the winter we had this idea: "Why not make an independent exhibition for the upcoming Biennale?". He was in Alicante and I was in Suceava. Improbable as it may seem, 2 weeks later we already had a strong curatorial concept and a space booked for the exhibition in Venice.