All Problems Can Never Be Solved (Book)

Asked to make a work of art in a modernist social housing complex called Cité Modèle (Model District) in Brussels, I founded a temporary architecture office in one of the apartments. Over time, Bureau Des Architectes became a place where professional architects, artists and local residents gathered to solve problems, express desires or propose discussions. Restricting all participants only to work with scale models in order not to be distracted by reality, the project accumulated in an exhibition that questions the problem-solving nature of architecture by means of 46 scale models for possible and impossible desires.

Two years after, I joined forces with visual artist Pol Matthé and graphic designer Filiep Tacq to make a book. Using the three-dimensional software developed for architects to visualize the future, we made a replica of the past exhibition based on pictures and our own memory. While virtually rebuilding the past, we also rearranged, reimagined and reframed it. The result is a book that serves as a scale model of a project, articulating its desires and propositions more than documenting it.

2014

authors & editors: Jozef Wouters, Pol Matthé

texts: Reinhard Wendler, Jozef Wouters

photography: Christophe Engels, Pol Matthé (cover)

video: Willy Thomas

3D modelling: Sam Dieltjens, Jozef Wouters

3D rendering: Christophe Engels, Nathan Van Esbroeck (Bump)

translation: Jodie Hruby, Yonatan D. Weizman

graphic design: Filiep Tacq

production: Hanne Van Den Biesen

publisher: mennomichieljozef vzw

printing: Die Keure, Brugge

distributor: Les presses du reel, Dijon
IDEA books, Amsterdam

With the support of KVS Brussels.

The book can be bought online here.

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