Molton Arena

The Molton Arena was developed and produced in 2006 by the Urban Research Institute Nuremberg as a city tool. It was produced in Nuremberg in the context of a sewing performance workshop, led by Tünde Kovács (Kovács Coverings, Budapest) by members of the forschungspruppe_f. The fabric arena is unfolded on a square in a few minutes and can be installed on any larger site. Two groups of five play a modified version of soccer under the fabric. The game creates an amorphous space inside that requires corresponding techniques of orientation and coordination. Residents and passersby reacted with curiosity and took great pleasure in participating.

The Molton Arena makes the forschungsgruppe_f’s working field accessible in various cities in a playful way. In Budapest the Molton Arena was installed at Heroes’ Square/ Budapest in 2007. Heroes’ Square (Hösök tere) is situated between Dózsa György Street and the city park (Városliget) in District 14. Its original function was to mark the site of the Millennial Monument. Three distinct elements of the square – the Museum of Fine Arts, the Palace of Exhibitions (Műcsarnok), and the Millennial Monument connecting the former two – were designed by Albert Schickedanz (with Ferenc Herzog Fülög, who was also involved in the design of the two museums). On the day the Molton Arena was set up, the military was coincidentally also present with an exercise on the site.

Forschungsgruppe_f explores various forms of reception and perception for action research as “happy sciences” through interventions and performances. Existing operational systems are advanced into interactive forms of action in order to encourage self-organized developments. The action researchers come from various fieldss of studies which deal with visual phenomena, communication and implications for the construction of realities in society.

Action research is defined by direct and whole-hearted participation in experimental set-ups like the „Gartenschau“ (garden show). A significant operational field of the forschungsgruppe_f are „drifts“ (dérives), where the participants performed actions such as the Molton Arena in various cities.

Forschungsgruppe_f was founded by Georg Winter, students, artists and lecturers at the ZHdK Zurich (Zurich University of the Arts) in spring 2000, in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.

Forschungsgruppe_f is an association of artists from Nuremberg, Munich, Stuttgart, Zurich, Vienna and Budapest: Natalia Agafonov, Christine Albrecht, Lisa Biedlingmaier, Stefan Burger, Fabian Hesse, Philip Metz, Frank Brümmel, Claudia Caprez, Ragani Haas, Szilard Huszank, Jedvart Karasu, Peggy Kleinert, Andrea Legiehn, Stefan Meier, Anke Nowottne, Cora Piantoni, Marc Rammelmüller, Carsten Recksik, Alexander Schikowski, Kata Huszar, Michl Schmidt, Peter Wendl, Angela Dorrer, Alexis Dworsky, Marcus Krenn, Marton Orosz, Georg Winter, et.al.