Architecton
Victor Kossakovsky
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Victor Kossakovsky
Russian-born (born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in 1961 and currently living in Berlin and Barcelona) director Victor Kossakovsky is well known among documentary filmmakers in Finland. One of his films was titled Gunda. Its main character was a pig with the same name.
After Gunda, Kossakovsky has created a stunning and brilliantly shot film essay Architecton. It was completed in 2024 and nominated for several awards. At its best, this film — certainly not a conventional documentary — is experienced and seen (and heard) together in a large cinema. We have consciously included it in the Ark Rex Architectural Film Festival program, even though Architecton has been screened in smaller cinemas in Finland.
The film, in its own manner, attempts to make all of us, and especially builders, architects and engineers, think about several fundamental things — and about what we do with the oil drilled from the depths of the earth, or with the coal or the minerals that are mined. How does our way of using them get into the atmosphere and the air we breathe, and how and for whose benefit are the energy sources used? For ever more batteries? In gadgets and systems that require ever more energy and, possibly, will even more enslave us. Or: to make some more money, but for very few of us?
What if we build poorly and buildings that only last half of a person's lifetime — that is, unsustainably? What if the way we build speaks of an attitude that no longer values people, the so-called little people — meaning all of us — whom Alvar Aalto also spoke about? What if our residential architecture, based on industrial and rapid construction, and our increasingly regulated construction by financialization and real estate development and investment companies, impoverishes and standardizes our environment? What if the environment in which we operate no longer elevates us above everyday life, even for a moment — or if it does, it elevates and enlightens only a few people? And what does the way we build today say about us — or about some of us?
Kossakovsky, in turn, ponders how ambitiously or unambitiously our time builds and what might remain of our buildings — or whether anything will remain at all: are we building a world and in a world where more and more destruction is taking place, or are we building a world where respect for nature and the way we use materials is valued, also in such a way that they are used to create something greater than ourselves? Kossakovsky´s special focus is on natural stone, quarries and stone construction, as well as concrete, the most widely used building material of our time.
The film also touches on the theme of paradise and an environment completely untouched by human activity. In this film, a miniature paradise is deliberately created by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi and a few workmen, next to an old house on the hills of Lombardy.
One that a person should never step into.
After Gunda, Kossakovsky has created a stunning and brilliantly shot film essay Architecton. It was completed in 2024 and nominated for several awards. At its best, this film — certainly not a conventional documentary — is experienced and seen (and heard) together in a large cinema. We have consciously included it in the Ark Rex Architectural Film Festival program, even though Architecton has been screened in smaller cinemas in Finland.
The film, in its own manner, attempts to make all of us, and especially builders, architects and engineers, think about several fundamental things — and about what we do with the oil drilled from the depths of the earth, or with the coal or the minerals that are mined. How does our way of using them get into the atmosphere and the air we breathe, and how and for whose benefit are the energy sources used? For ever more batteries? In gadgets and systems that require ever more energy and, possibly, will even more enslave us. Or: to make some more money, but for very few of us?
What if we build poorly and buildings that only last half of a person's lifetime — that is, unsustainably? What if the way we build speaks of an attitude that no longer values people, the so-called little people — meaning all of us — whom Alvar Aalto also spoke about? What if our residential architecture, based on industrial and rapid construction, and our increasingly regulated construction by financialization and real estate development and investment companies, impoverishes and standardizes our environment? What if the environment in which we operate no longer elevates us above everyday life, even for a moment — or if it does, it elevates and enlightens only a few people? And what does the way we build today say about us — or about some of us?
Kossakovsky, in turn, ponders how ambitiously or unambitiously our time builds and what might remain of our buildings — or whether anything will remain at all: are we building a world and in a world where more and more destruction is taking place, or are we building a world where respect for nature and the way we use materials is valued, also in such a way that they are used to create something greater than ourselves? Kossakovsky´s special focus is on natural stone, quarries and stone construction, as well as concrete, the most widely used building material of our time.
The film also touches on the theme of paradise and an environment completely untouched by human activity. In this film, a miniature paradise is deliberately created by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi and a few workmen, next to an old house on the hills of Lombardy.
One that a person should never step into.
Victor Kossakovsky
Russian-born (born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in 1961 and currently living in Berlin and Barcelona) director Victor Kossakovsky is well known among documentary filmmakers in Finland. One of his films was titled Gunda. Its main character was a pig with the same name.
After Gunda, Kossakovsky has created a stunning and brilliantly shot film essay Architecton. It was completed in 2024 and nominated for several awards. At its best, this film — certainly not a conventional documentary — is experienced and seen (and heard) together in a large cinema. We have consciously included it in the Ark Rex Architectural Film Festival program, even though Architecton has been screened in smaller cinemas in Finland.
The film, in its own manner, attempts to make all of us, and especially builders, architects and engineers, think about several fundamental things — and about what we do with the oil drilled from the depths of the earth, or with the coal or the minerals that are mined. How does our way of using them get into the atmosphere and the air we breathe, and how and for whose benefit are the energy sources used? For ever more batteries? In gadgets and systems that require ever more energy and, possibly, will even more enslave us. Or: to make some more money, but for very few of us?
What if we build poorly and buildings that only last half of a person's lifetime — that is, unsustainably? What if the way we build speaks of an attitude that no longer values people, the so-called little people — meaning all of us — whom Alvar Aalto also spoke about? What if our residential architecture, based on industrial and rapid construction, and our increasingly regulated construction by financialization and real estate development and investment companies, impoverishes and standardizes our environment? What if the environment in which we operate no longer elevates us above everyday life, even for a moment — or if it does, it elevates and enlightens only a few people? And what does the way we build today say about us — or about some of us?
Kossakovsky, in turn, ponders how ambitiously or unambitiously our time builds and what might remain of our buildings — or whether anything will remain at all: are we building a world and in a world where more and more destruction is taking place, or are we building a world where respect for nature and the way we use materials is valued, also in such a way that they are used to create something greater than ourselves? Kossakovsky´s special focus is on natural stone, quarries and stone construction, as well as concrete, the most widely used building material of our time.
The film also touches on the theme of paradise and an environment completely untouched by human activity. In this film, a miniature paradise is deliberately created by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi and a few workmen, next to an old house on the hills of Lombardy.
One that a person should never step into.
After Gunda, Kossakovsky has created a stunning and brilliantly shot film essay Architecton. It was completed in 2024 and nominated for several awards. At its best, this film — certainly not a conventional documentary — is experienced and seen (and heard) together in a large cinema. We have consciously included it in the Ark Rex Architectural Film Festival program, even though Architecton has been screened in smaller cinemas in Finland.
The film, in its own manner, attempts to make all of us, and especially builders, architects and engineers, think about several fundamental things — and about what we do with the oil drilled from the depths of the earth, or with the coal or the minerals that are mined. How does our way of using them get into the atmosphere and the air we breathe, and how and for whose benefit are the energy sources used? For ever more batteries? In gadgets and systems that require ever more energy and, possibly, will even more enslave us. Or: to make some more money, but for very few of us?
What if we build poorly and buildings that only last half of a person's lifetime — that is, unsustainably? What if the way we build speaks of an attitude that no longer values people, the so-called little people — meaning all of us — whom Alvar Aalto also spoke about? What if our residential architecture, based on industrial and rapid construction, and our increasingly regulated construction by financialization and real estate development and investment companies, impoverishes and standardizes our environment? What if the environment in which we operate no longer elevates us above everyday life, even for a moment — or if it does, it elevates and enlightens only a few people? And what does the way we build today say about us — or about some of us?
Kossakovsky, in turn, ponders how ambitiously or unambitiously our time builds and what might remain of our buildings — or whether anything will remain at all: are we building a world and in a world where more and more destruction is taking place, or are we building a world where respect for nature and the way we use materials is valued, also in such a way that they are used to create something greater than ourselves? Kossakovsky´s special focus is on natural stone, quarries and stone construction, as well as concrete, the most widely used building material of our time.
The film also touches on the theme of paradise and an environment completely untouched by human activity. In this film, a miniature paradise is deliberately created by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi and a few workmen, next to an old house on the hills of Lombardy.
One that a person should never step into.
Architecton, 2024. Victor Kossakovsky. 98 min.
