Bálint Kerekes
Methods of Analysis & Imagination
Stages of Democracy: Exploring the political capacity of theatre for the design of a representative public square in Tallinn
The castle of the Estonian parliament in Tallinn is currently a tourist destination and the park below it is a private sports field. Stages of Democracy reinterprets this park as a site for the representation of the public, providing an appropriable infrastructure for public events. A new square is defined by a grid of Tallinn limestone laid over the existing car park, while vertical extrusions of the paving form the facade colonnade of a theatre built along old fortification walls. The permanence of the limestone exterior is contrasted by the steel scaffolding inside. The retractable seating units of the auditorium can be rearranged for various stage layouts or rolled out between the columns onto the square for outdoor events. The scaffold penetrates the roof as a tower to form a beacon for the public to present their claims using the castle as a backdrop, ‘looking the president in the eye’.