PHTEAH

“Pratiques critiques (...) focuses on the critical dimension of spatial practices.” PHTEAH, in this context, seeks to question the relationship between modernity and beliefs. Going off of existing situations of ritual practices throughout the world, the aim is to adopt an open and speculative posture to propose an alternative read with a locally situated project (in Brussels). The method of investigation and production of the project must also take into consideration systemic logics of domination, oppression, stigmatization… and acknowledge the instances that render them visible.

PHTEAH is a work of fiction based on extractions from existing construction rituals. This series of extractions is then translocated and integrated into the Belgian context. This insertion ranges from the integration of rituals into the phases of the building site and the creation of the role of the ritual officiant (Achar) in the administrative hierarchy, to the creation of a reference guide containing all the technical and ritual regulations... To bring the fiction to life, existing documents such as public inquiry notices, town planning permits, insurance declarations, title deeds, fines from the order of architects, etc. have all been used to subtly and realistically integrate ritual clues. The representation of the land spirit, the Niek snake that makes an apparition in Room 2, the Yantra protection prayers, the fabric pieces on the chief column and the turmeric threads all refer to this notion of access to an invisible universe that intervenes in the physical. These punctual interventions demonstrate the multiple universes that overlap and intermingle. PHTEAH's aim is to explore the possibility of this alternative reality and its consequences, and to question the relationship between modernity and beliefs. The official value given to rituals allows us to discuss the limits between regulations and rituals. PHTEAH places the emphasis on care in construction, and aims to seek a more sensitive relationship in the construction process, and to question our relationship with land, soil and the way we build on it. The new architecture faculty campus, rue du Lombard 42, hence becomes the site where technical, administrative and ritual standards have not been respected, and where the case study exhibition PHTEAH takes place.