ЧАДЪР EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS ASSEMBLY VELIKO TARNOVO
CHADŬR
VOL. 14 - ISSUE 02 FRIDAY JULY 25TH
EASA dino’s Veliko Tarnovo’s heritage Theme:
Memory
Toilet & restaurant review EASA classic : sangria party 1
#02: Memory 2. Contents 3. What’s on? / weather 4.-6. Workshops, workshops, workshops 7. Ghetto night 8.-9. Question of the day 10. Toilet review / lecture review 11. eSpanish night! 12.-13. restaurant review 14. Easa Stats 15. Tsarevets Fortress 16. Small Interventions 17. The Dino’s 18. Uncle Niko / Powercut / Love is in the air / Lost and Found / Wanted 19. Humans of Veliko Tarnovo 20. Picture of the day Dear colleagues, if we should believe our first speaker Todor Krestev, it is apparently too late for us to appreciate the value of cultural heritage. It should’ve started in your childhood! Anyway, if you have younger siblings that can be saved, they should go to www.heriquest.com.
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Yet at this year’s EASA we see all kinds of symbioses emerge, between the past and the future; the historic city with the workshops, the new easians with the not-so-new. Therefore, an edition of чадър on memory! Enjoy, and if you’re finished reading, share this magazine
with others and leave it in a public place, there’s a limited amount of copies available. Because sharing is caring.
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WHAT’S ON? friday july 25th
saturday july 26th
8:00 AM
breakfast
8:00 AM
breakfast
9:30 AM
workshops / bungee jump
9:30 AM
workshops / Experiment Balkans workshop
12:00 AM from the tutors 18:00 PM
lunch
12:00 AM from the tutors
tutor meeting
19:00 PM at Boris Denev National Gallery
dinner
20:30 PM at Boris Denev National Gallery
lecture Jan Doms live Karandila Orchestra
23:00 PM Veliko Tarnovo
pub crawl
lunch
13:30 PM
future of VT workshop (2 participants per country)
18:00 PM
NC meeting
19:00 PM
dinner
23:00 PM
EASA bar
01:00 AM
excursion departure
WEATHER friday
saturday
sunday
monday
tuesday
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Workshops, workshops, workshops Camera obscura We already got a sneak peak on what the guys and girls at Camera obscura are working on and we have to say it looks really exciting! They’ve been hard at work and managed to construct multiple smaller viewing devices and a bigger one up by the IT-lab. Their aim is to reach the emotions of the historic city by building a view-
ing pavilion from which you can observe the surroundings trough a built-in camera. C.L. Tangle These guys have been working upstairs at the bar, divided into groups that are either brainstorming, making Sketchup models and plans, or building prototypes. The workshop is currently finalizing the design and
thinking about out how seating can be incorporated into the installation. Before easa, the tutors had already been prototyping to find the right type of rubber that is at the same time strong and flexible enough to serve as joints for the wooden construction. Yantra + Chaotium Yantra is using the dam and its two pavilions
Camera Obscura in the IT Lab 4
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Yantra pavillion
down by the riverbank as their location. Right now they’re still cleaning up the mess, but by the 30th of July they should have an installation and performance ready. They’re planning an installation with little balls, fishing line and blacklight. Chaotium will then be organising a performance on the dam. One other symbiosis they are thinking of is collaborating with Hard Fiber Fun to restore some dangerous holes in the concrete construction of the dam.
Press Play Press Play plan to build two interactive installations, of which they’re going to be making prototypes in cheap materials this week. The electronics should already be working by then, so we’ll be able to try them out. Next week more robust final installations will follow. They’re building and programming custom electronics for these installations, one of which will be a game where two opponents have to compete against each other by
slamming a table as hard as possible to eliminate your opponent. Synthesizer Right now the Synthesizer workspace is littered with banana peels. They are creating sounds out of objects by connecting them to speakers. Once you touch the object, sounds are created. The final project will be an interactive installation where buildings will become the objects you can use to create sound. But for now they’re still work5
ing on a smaller scale and they showed us how you can play a banana synthesizer. Bananas have never sounded so good! Back To The Roots The tutors of Back To The Roots are teaching their participants traditional Bulgarian building techniques to construct a symbiosis with the Boathouse and Walden down at the river. Right now they’re divided into groups, one of which is smashing stone to create a kind of plaster,
and another one is cleaning branches they will use for weaving. Once cleaned the branches are placed into the river, to make them softer and easier to weave. The current of the river is quite strong, and this already proved to be tricky for one Norwegian in the group. Stay safe fellow easians!
Hidden Corners is experimenting with the material they’re going to construct the final project with, which is construc-
tion wood with two different sections. They’ve found two interesting hidden corners where they’ll build projects that are a midway between installations and functional objects, to re-activate the location again. One is an unused green plot in a street, while the other is a little square in front of an abandoned church that you can find down the stairs on the main road that leads to the Architecture Club. At this location they’re also planning to work in symbiosis with another workshop.
during the night but isn’t that just a challenge that makes us push the tempo even harder? The party continued downstairs by the bar till the early morning hours. The dance floor and the bar were so crowded that you couldn’t help but bumping in to new friends. Many people were seen to sneak out in pairs and Um-
brella couldn’t be happier for all the newly hookedup!
Hidden Corners
Ghetto night The party house was all sealed and set to explode Wednesday after the lecture. People were clearly excited for the ghetto party and ready to conquer the dance floor with their gansta moves. The booze filled evening was probably the best one so far and from here on the parties can only get better. Of course a great party wouldn’t be anything without the police so the music upstairs was stopped suddenly 6
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Heeey, macarena!
Coming up: the Spanish Sangria party
800 liters of Sangria being made in Zuzemberk (2013)
This just in: Spanish team has a few party tricks up their sleeves they want to reveal to us. In fact they want to invite whoever interested (but seriously, who isn’t?) to join them for a big Spanish sangria party on Wednesday night.
know how to set a mood, and it will involve ’heey maccarena’, drinking games and potential kisses. Those who have been to a sangria party before will remember playing the matchmaking game ultimately getting you a kiss and a shot.
For the past few years, easians have been in Spain in spirit for one hot night. The recipe is simple: rhythms, dancing and manifold of homemade sangria generously poured by Spanish friends.
Even if the party has become more official, and printed in the program, it is clear, talking to Álvaro, that organizing this party is no duty, but a gift from Spain to EASA with love.
The rumour has it they
To be part of the party, you have to pay a smaller
amount (6-8 euro) before Monday night, so that Spain has the time to shop, chop and mix the drinks for Wednesday night! For that money you can enjoy almost unlimited delicious (and note to self; super strong) Sangria. Last year there was no less than 800 litres – 2 l. pr. Person. Soon, if not already, Alvaro will put up two lists at the info point – one for your name and one for your Spanish music requests. So sign up and never look back. In Álvaro’s words: ”Expect hot dancing and hot stuff!”
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Question of the day:
What’s your best EASA memory? Rory (Northern Ireland)
Tom (UK)
Kristin (Sweden)
The best memory is swimming in the Zuzemberk river and the worst must be right now – I have such a bad hangover!
There’s so many but also so few. And how do you judge a good memory, There’s some I wouldn’t share with anyone. I guess it must be getting naked in the Yantra-river – it kind of reminds me of Kamasutra, it’s quite a sexual river.
The first time I was going to EASA there was very little information and when I arrived I was sure someone had fooled me. Why would there be 400 architecture students in this little Italian village? But the event ended up being really good. Also the first NC-meeting might be the best memory.
Yuliya (Russia, tutor of hard fiber fun)
Marcos (UK)
EASA-Spain: the sea, the bar, the hot weather, no rain, all the new people and sangria-siesta!
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I don’t have any memories from EASA!
Anonymous In Cadiz, Spain I hooked up with this guy and we ended up by the beach after a party – like so many others. We stayed there a few hours, just listening to the waves, talking, having sex. And we’re still good friends!
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Question of the day: What’s your best EASA memory? Sofia (Denmark)
Robert (Finland)
Quotes of the day I’m a filthy filthy boy today! (Karl, Antiroom tutor)
Personally I wouldn’t Yesterday we went out for dinner and we ordered a bottle of champagne. It was really old and yeasty. So when we opened it, it burst out like a fountain. The lesson is, don’t buy Bulgarian Champagne! Joonas (Finland, tutor of EASA FM)
Ever? For ever ever? It’s hard to say. Maybe it was the time in Cadiz. There were these massive injection needles and people started filling them with sangria at the bar. A huge sangria war was started. All the people with white clothes were red afterwards and the Finnish team was not happy. Their window was directly to the bar and this took place in the morning, keeping everybody awake.
mix apples and bananas (anonymous helper at breakfast)
Easa weeks are ordinary friendship years. People really start mattering to you after these 2 weeks together. (Kristin, easa dino)
When we finally got our antenna to work! 9
TALK/ Fran and the dinosaurs We had a talk with Fran, tutor from Walden, about being part of easa; about sticking around and filling different roles; about organising and about memories we share. / Attended six easa’s / First easa Ireland (2008) / Organiser of Cadiz (2011) / Tutor in three easas
“Your first easa is always something you remember very clearly. For me too it’s a special memory, both my best and worst. I really liked my first easa in Ireland, but at the same time it rained for fifteen days on end. The succeeding of an easa is a lot of people’s responsibility. There’s the organisers obviously and the tutors, but also the in-
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volvement of the NC’s and how they prepare their participants. This means that there’s actually a lot that you don’t have any control over as an organiser. I think what we tried to do in Cadiz is propose a location that was completely different from the locations where easa had been the years before. Another thing we did was organise a lot of activities outside of the workshops. Things on interesting locations, lectures, but also more playful events that
would make people get to know the city. It’s a lot of pressure organising, definitely the year running up to the event. After Cadiz, I went to Iceland for 10 days to be alone. It’s important to escape for a while and take a breath before you start again. After organising an easa, the organisers also get a different position, so it’s difficult to come back as a participant afterwards. For me it makes sense coming back as a tutor now. I feel like adding something extra to the community, and definitely now that I’m an architect I feel more confident in con-
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structing. It does mean extra pressure though, because you have to deliver something in the end. And at the same time you have to keep it interesting for participants. For example, I think it’s much more interesting to involve participants in every part of the process than to divide all tasks and let everyone do the same thing every day. There’s a part of easa that is continuous and that wants to keep going. But if I would organise an easa again now I would do it completely different, because it should never get too comfortable. After a while a lot of memories about easa get lost though, maybe there is something like a five year collective memory. But that is part of it as well. There’s this easa that happened on a train in Scandinavia a long time ago. We don’t know anymore what exactly happened but still talk about it because it was so special. It’s good to shake things up. For example maybe it would be nice to organise an easa where everyone takes part in the same workshop. We have to keep experimenting. ”
Way down in the hole
Toilet in restaurant Shtastiveda
EASA’s toilets - and especially those near the bar - are not the ideal environment to dispose of bodily waste. Often smelly, sometimes clogged and mostly of the squatting type, they made us scan the city for better options. On the bright side of life, you should have rock-hard thighs by the end of EASA. If you are visiting Antiroom’s building site, just around the corner there’s the Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo. Their toilets are shiny clean and odourless. The only reason they don’t quite deserve five stars is the spider I encountered
while visiting – it mysteriously disappeared after I was done with my duties. Another nice option is the corner bar near the fortress, where Bon Jovi and the rest of “Greatest hits of ‘98” entertain your toilet business. But the very best toilet Umbrella has tried out so far is the one in restaurant Щастливеца, where you’ll immediately feel at (your grandmother’s) home!
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The lucky man restaurant review
Although the food from the EASA kitchen has been very satisfying the past days, some occasions require a nice long restaurant dinner. Nothing better after a day of drilling and sweating than being served traditional Bulgarian dishes by a nice waiter or waitress. To help you pick out the best in Veliko Tarnovo, Umbrella tried out some local restaurants and bars. Ресторант Щастливеца Located on the Main road of Veliko Tarnovo is Ресторант Щастливеца (“the lucky man”), a place bursting with flower pots on the terrace and promising us a wide range of Bulgarian dishes with a modern twist. We made our way downstairs, where the place has been remodeled from the original traditional Bulgarian interior into a place even your grandmother would suffocate in because of the over-the-top-kitsch. Think: quilts of tapestries on the tables, very comfortable 12
sofas, flowery curtains, flowery aprons – even for the male staff! The delicious smell of a garlic flavoured tomato sauce that was hanging around in the restaurant smelled promising. For starters we had some Parlenka, a typical Bulgarian appetiser that is a kind of bread with added toppings. The restaurant offers five different kinds, we tried the cheese and garlic one. The cheese was maybe a bit heavy, but the texture of the
bread was lovely. We only tried a few of the dishes, but judging from these and the ones we saw being brought out of the kitchen, most of what you order from their extensive menu will be satisfying. The salad with chickpeas for example, tastes fresh and pairs great with one of their meat dishes. The pasta with mascarpone, mushrooms and fresh thyme tasted great sweet, though it was somewhat heavy because umbrellanewspaper@gmail.com
Rich
restaurant review Address: somewhere on the main road, pass The Architects Club, pass Tequila bar and look to your right. Am small staircase leads to the restaurant Entering the restaurant feels a little bit like walking into a home. From the first and only room you can go out on a small balcony, from where you will have the best view in Veliko Tarnovo possible.
of the mascarpone. For vegetarians we’d recommend their risotto with broccoli, porcini and cheese. It’s even better when you find someone who wants to split dishes and you pair it with the marinated aubergine in red pepper sauce. And although we didn’t try them this time, another recommendation would be their spinach balls. Gluten intolerants will find something to their liking here as well, as they serve some dishes with quinoa. The waitress tried
discouraging us from ordering the Millet because she personally doesn’t like it – we were asked twice if we were really sure but we still tried it and it turned out to be a savoury though really spicy Paellalike dish. After ending with a coffee we’d had enough food that would last us at least until the evening, but if you still crave a little desert, maybe try the ice-cream stall next door. Must visit!
There’s is not really a reason to stay if the balcony is full. But if you do find a seat - as we did with a group of ten - I’ll promise you it will be hard to leave. The reason being either you are so captivated by the beautiful sight, or you get trapped in a rainstorm, like we did. The food is so-so – eggs, meat, fish, salads and fries – but the mood is good. This place really is its view.
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Tsarevets fortress Is there anyone who doesn’t like medieval forts and ruins? Right, there isn’t. However, this was not some ordinary big castle. Veliko Tarnovo a.k.a. “Old Capital” or “City of the Tsars” is a place where people lived for more than 5 millennia and the town itself used to be a capital of Second Bulgarian Empire. This is why Tsarevets used to be the most unconquerable Bulgarian fortress, home of the Tsar/ Emperor as well as a cultural and intellectual center of medieval Bulgaria. It all began with the end of 12th century when
two badasses Asen and Peter revolted against Byzantine Empire and restored Bulgarian Empire. After Veliko Tarnovo became its capital, the city thrived and claimed to be third Rome because its preeminent cultural influence in Eastern Europe. But the end of 14th century, when Ottoman Empire captured the city, marked the fall of the Bulgarian Empire. Now, most of you have been on that fort on the opening ceremony of EASA – that time when you had free beer and steaks (with no knives btw) and I know that your memory might be im-
paired due to great time in Spider club later that night, but you surely do remember that show with gay lights, church bells and dramatic music and screams, right? Well, that audiovisual show was designed by a Bulgarian-Czechoslovak team led by Valo Radev and Jaromir Hnik and has been organized at Tsarevets since 1985 - when the 800-year anniversary of the Uprising of Asen and Peter was celebrated. It actually tells the story of the fall of Veliko Tarnovo to the Ottomans and other historical moments of Bulgaria.
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Small interventions
where you’ll soon find them ventions
? 1
5 2 4
E
small intervention est. 2006
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1
3beehive
spot to be found symbioz-ing with Handpawer Kristin Karlsson - SE
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2
small interventions small est. 2006 interventions 3
r too
est. 2006
1 1
beehive spot to be found beehive
2 2
symbiozing with cr8.bit Zana Bokshi - KS / Dmitri Melnikov - UE Ceyda Pektas -TR
room with a view relax Janis Beinerts -LV
4
mapping Veliko Tarnovo
musical shelter symbiozing with cr8.bit musical shelter
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gathering at
room with a view relax room with a view
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4 4
mapping Veliko Tarnovo spotting the easa sites mapping Veliko Tarnovo
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5 5
gathering at re-imagining an urban spot gathering at
3 3
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musical shelter
symbioz-ing with Handpawer spot to be found Kristin Karlsson - SE symbioz-ing with Handpawer Kristin Karlsson - SE Zana Bokshi - KS / Dmitri Melnikov - UE symbiozing with cr8.bit Ceyda Pektas -TR Zana Bokshi - KS / Dmitri Melnikov - UE Ceyda Pektas -TR Janis Beinerts -LV relax Janis Beinerts -LV
Anastasia Dimoulaki - GR spotting the easa sites Varvara Karipidou - GR Anastasia Dimoulaki - GR Varvara Karipidou - GR
Alice Escudier - FR re-imagining an urban spot
5 5
spotting the easa sites Anastasia Dimoulaki - GR Varvara Karipidou - GR
2 2
4 4
re-imagining an urban spot Alice Escudier - FR Guillaume Starck - CH
planting additional steps
bring your good friends and your laughter too Georgia Athanasopoulou - GR Rugile Ropolaite -LT
arch patterns
contextual stuff Melissa de la Hayne - CH
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The Dinos
EASA’s oldest creatures What is a Dino? It’s not the prehistoric animal. It’s the easian with a long history. But when and what makes you a dino? It appears there are several opinions on what it takes to obtain the status as the wisest (read: oldest) easian in the herd. ”I’ve heard that it’s actually 6 years” says one. Another says: ”No, just 6 events including incm.” The diffuse caracter of this rule made us think, there might be other ways to spot a Dino. How to recognize a dino? Presense You will spot the Dino by its mere presence, overseeing the situation. It’s availiability to help out will be striking, and it will try its best to help you carry your responisibilities. Affection The Dino is very likely to pass out warm embraces and hot kisses
especially on arrival. The Dino has learned that the days, months and ultimately years passing in between easas don’t really count. As Kristin Karlsson so wisely put it: ”EASA weeks are ordinary friendship years.” Friendships become so much tighter, love so much stronger and spirit flushes with stronger force in these few weeks.
these precious moments and tirelessly seek to get more of the drug and most importantly, make sure everyone else goes down with him. It’s an addiction, really. In conclusion the Dino is a warm-hearted creature, with occasional nostalgic eyes trying to drug your drink with easa spirit.
Nostalgia In every love affair there is some amount of heartache. This goes for the affair we all are in together as well. With memory comes nostalgia. And at a place like easa there are gained friends as well as friends missing. That’s why the Dino also sometimes can be spotted with a little tear in his eye. Addict Here we might find another one of the characteristics of a Dino. Because a dino is a creature that has on several occasions been infected with the spirit. Now he will forever simultaneously long for
Nostalgic Kristin Karlsson
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LOST AND FOUND:
Uncle Niko Organiser Niko became uncle today, of a 50 cm-long baby girl named Elena. Welcome EASA baby!
lost:
Umbrella office Matteo’s green polo shirt, the colour fits well with blue
Powercut?
The doctor’s thermometer
Veliko Tarnovo experienced a large blackout today, not caused by heavy rainfall, but by our own Antiroom! These guys got so enthusiastic about the digging of their 12m wide amphitheatre that they cut through an electricity cable! Tutor Karl takes a part home as a souvenir.
found:
EASA FM antenna
WANTED: Contributions for Umbrella [text, drawing, pictures, whateva]
Love is in the air This time the yearly roulette of close acquaintances seems to have started early. From the very first night there’s been sights of shaking bushes in the woods, lovers sneaking back to their own beds before the others wake up and new friends grinding it on the dance floor in a not-so18
platonic-way. Especially after the ghetto party the EASAlove-scene seems to have sparked some new potential couples. Umbrella is anxious to see how things develop from here onwards. As long as everyone is having fun there’s no harm in a little snuggle – now is there?
Adventurers for the mega bungee jump event on friday! Rumours about biddings for future EASA’s / INCM’s Playlists and requests of spanish music for the Sangria Party. Bring them to the Spanish people or the info point! Hot showers?
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Humans of Veliko Tarnovo Painter, Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo
Planning to repaint the entire hotel with this one brush. “My son’s birthday is on the 31st of July. He’s turning 25.”
“I worked in Oslo, Norway for six months once. Now I’ve been working here for 11 years.” “This is a very nice hotel. It’s very expensive
too.” “Today I paint this side of the hotel. The colour is no good, it’s a gipsy colour. But I’m not a gipsy, I’m a good Russian orthodox.” 19
PHOTO OF THE DAY
#dedicatedrebels @rdmckaye