WORKS

about

Sebastian Díaz de León (he/him), born in Mexico City, now lives in Berlin, where he engages in a spatial practice that intersects architecture, film, and photography. He explores existing structures to envision a socially and climate-just future, addressing contemporary spatial challenges. As part of the collective ufoufo, he co-edited the book "VISITING - Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller" (2022) and contributed to the accompanying exhibitions in Berlin, Hamburg, Kassel, and Zürich. Recent projects from the collective include ABRISSSTOP! (2023), which opposes building demolitions, and IVRY-AFFAIRES (2023), a video installation highlighting the stories of Ivry-sur-Seine's inhabitants. Currently, he teaches architectural design at Universität der Künste Berlin.

contact

email
sdiazdeleon

ufoufo.eu
ufoufo

andersurania.org
andersurania


screenings
2024

IVRY–AFFAIRES at group exhibition Under Pressure, Adalbertstr 9 Berlin

Ghostly Tracks, at festival of well beeing, Mäusebunker Berlin

Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht! at hallo kiosk hamburg
2023

IMAGE DE VILLE Festival,carte blanche,Aix en Provence

CONTAMINATIONS, at Climate Care Festival, Floating University, Berlin

IVRY–AFFAIRES at Haus der Statistik, Berlin

IVRY–AFFAIRES at Centre Jeanne- Hachette Ivry-sur-Seine, France

Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht! - at Spektakel auf der Autobahn, own your city - urbane praxis woche, Berlin

Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht!at Delphi Space, Freiburg

Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht! at Kurfürstenstr Berlin

exhibitions
2024

Under Pressure, group exhibition at Adalbertstr 9 Berlin

Visiting Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, at Architekturforum Zürich

Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht! at Profitopolis,
Museum der Dinge, Berlin

Visiting Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller at Kunsthochschule Kassel

2023

Visiting Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller at freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg

ABRISSSTOP/Down with Demolition protest fest, performance, Film screening, Kurfürstenstr. Berlin

2022

Visiting Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller at DAZ Berlin

2020

Les Gonflables at KUNST RAUM STADT Univeristät der Künste berlin
2019

Oberweissbacher Lichterfest at making futures

lectures/talks
2024
Lecture and Discussion at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) on Invitation of Anne Lacaton, Madrid (ESP)
curators talk at architekturforum zürich

curators talk at Kunsthochschule Kassel
2023

Guest lecture at UdK Berlin, on invitation by summacumfemma

curators talk at freie akademie der künste hamburg

Visiting Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Talk at IEB, TU Braunschweig, Prof. Dan Schürch
2022

curators talk at DAZ

residencies/fundings
2023

Goethe Institut - visual arts project fund

Berliner Projektfonds Urbane Praxis

publications

Visiting Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller,
Berlin 1966-89.
Verlag der Buchhandlung Franz und Walther König


press

arte twist 29.09.2024

nextroom.at 01/2024: ufo ufo - Initiative gegen Abriss 

DBZ 02/2023: “Gebauten Raum erforschen“ 

Baunetz Campus: ”Einige Fragen an“

BauNetz.de, 07.12.2023: Substanzielles Umdenken ︎︎︎

Taz, 28.11.2023: Abrisspläne in der City West

Bauwelt,  24.2023: Endlich umdenken!︎︎︎

BauNetz.de , 20.11.2023: Allianz gegen Abrisse︎︎︎

Tagesspiegel, 16.11.2023: Abriss an der Urania

Berliner Kurier,  16.11. 2023: Streit um Abriss

Berliner Zeitung, 16.11.2023: Umstrittener Abriss

Deutschlandfunk Kultur,  12.11.2023: “Petition gegen
Abriß an der Urania Berlin” ︎︎︎

nd, 9.11.2023: “Kahlschlag in Berlin”

taz, 23.02.2023: Rettet die West Platten↗

Tagesspiegel 22.02.2023: Kunst gegen Abriss↗

rbb abendschau, 10.04.2023: Umweltschonender Stadtumbau gefordert↗

art in berlin, 03.03.2023: Monopoly goes real↗

dérive N° 87 (Apr - Juni / 2022): »Wir sind die
Architekten für die Situationen, wo die Sonne von unten scheint.« ↗

Tagesspiegel, 04.03.2023: Verdichter der Großstadt↗

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 09.04.2022: Ganz furchtbar überlegt

taz, 12.07.2022: Werkübersicht des Architekten-Duo Baller

monopol magazin, 16.06.2023: Architekten Inken und Hinrich Baller











IVRY-AFFAIRES
2023


3-Channel Video Installation 
9:30 min
with ufoufo (Jeanne Astrup-Chauvaux, Florine Schüschke & Lena Löhnert)

In the 1960’s, Ivry-sur-Seine – a south-eastern Parisian suburb– was the theater of a groundbreaking social housing operation, in which architect and urban planner Renée Gailhoustet, together with Jean Renaudie, designed an architecture deeply anchored in socialist values of communal living and social equity. The generous space dedicated in their buildings to urban ecosystems on the many public and private terraces makes it an example of resilient, ecological and foremost deeply social architecture today.


In May 2023, we conducted an artistic investigation in Ivry-Sur-Seine to experience the life of the neighbourhood and its inhabitants, in cooperation with local initiatives Jardin à tous les étages (Ivry) & Arch'Ivry. The research focus was set on the different forms of care that inhabitants are enacting towards the spaces they inhabit. Through workshops, visits, and informal gathering, we collected stories, secrets, and personal experiences of the residents of Ivry, which we wove into three fictional stories that describe everyday – yet unconventional – practices towards this unique architecture. The short-films were shot together with neighbors and interwoven into a 3-channel video installation.


The video installation “Ivry-Affaires” was designed to be projected in public space in the atrium of Centre Jeanne Hachette (Ivry-sur-Seine), where it was shown in September 2023. “Ivry-Affaires” was also shown in Berlin Haus der Statistik in October 2023 and as part of the Under Pressure exhibition in September 2024.



Screening at Haus der Statistik Berlin 


Screening at Centre Jeanne-Hachette Ivry-sur-Seine

During the residency in Ivry-sur-Seine: Encounters with inhabitants, collecting Stories, behind the scenes  

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2024 (c) sebastian díaz de león