Stairway Cinema is the third major installation by OH.NO.SUMO. Our ongoing goal is to experiment with architecture and the way it can engage with the public in unique and exciting ways. This project takes inspiration from the site and its inhabitants. The intersection of Symonds Street and Mount Street is a place of ‘hard waiting’. Bus stops and laundromats create a hard-scape of poor space for social interaction. Members of the public retreat individually into the media offered on their mobile phones. This in turn results in greater separation and dislocation from an existing community that is waiting to be activated. A community must be linked not only virtually but also physically.
Stairway Cinema offers a very simple programmatic response to recognise and counter this larger issue. Short movies previously shared online, are projected for the public to enjoy, offering similar media to that sought out on their phones. The individual experience is exchanged for the communal and social, leading to a shared, fun and architecturally framed experience. Movies are collected from internet recommendations that have been shared by the public through social media. The public curate this virtual collection of media continuously and the cinema captures current trends and highlights within this realm. Stairway Cinema uses architecture as a way of engaging in a discussion about curatorial practice, urbanism and the role of Architects as place-makers and provocateurs.
Stairway Cinema offers a very simple programmatic response to recognise and counter this larger issue. Short movies previously shared online, are projected for the public to enjoy, offering similar media to that sought out on their phones. The individual experience is exchanged for the communal and social, leading to a shared, fun and architecturally framed experience. Movies are collected from internet recommendations that have been shared by the public through social media. The public curate this virtual collection of media continuously and the cinema captures current trends and highlights within this realm. Stairway Cinema uses architecture as a way of engaging in a discussion about curatorial practice, urbanism and the role of Architects as place-makers and provocateurs.
