Transforming fortresses into artworks: two cultural sites become spaces of topological immersion

Abstract

The paper explores the transformation of places of heritage into spaces of architecturalised contemporary art that takes place as a localised event. This art practice embraces the sites' historical qualities and architectural context, and is defined as 'chorotopical' from choros as space and topos as locus. The investigation presents two project proposals as case studies: (i) 'Sound[e]scape': an ephemeral sound intervention proposal for the Square Tower of Old Portsmouth Harbour in Southsea, UK and (ii) 'Spatial Sea': a light-projection installation proposal for St. George Gate, in the Venetian fortification of Heraklion Crete, Greece in collaboration with the Municipality of Heraklion. The paper examines architectural site as aylos topos and artistic interventions as temporal interruptions creating a lived experience. The paper sets a topological and ontological perspective in the making of site-reliant art and creates a philosophical index for the role of the site in the spatial creation. It moreover shifts the agenda of thinking of art and architecture as two distinct spatial practices, looking on the contrary for practical implications as well as the establishment of a shared theoretical vocabulary when the two dynamically collide in the creation of space.