“Coded Objects” Artistic Archival Residency with the Ambiguous Standards Institute (ASI)

In summer 2026, the newly launched “Coded Objects” artistic archival residency will bring Cansu Cürgen and Avşar Gürpınar (both of Loughborough University) to the saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering, KIT Karlsruhe and the KHI Historical Archive (KHIA) in Florence. In this first artistic residency in both archives, the artists will further develop the research and practice of their Ambiguous Standards Institute (ASI), a semi-fictional art and design platform that investigates culturally embedded categories through objects. From tea glasses to travel adapters, power sockets, kitchen utensils, and LED timers, ASI assembles everyday objects to reveal the often-invisible systems shaping sensory, cultural, and social life.

During June and July, the archival objects of the KHIA and the saai collections will provide the source material for their probing: in archives, ambiguous standards appear in every corner, shelf, box, and folder. Developing the project in conversation with the Lise Meitner Group, ASI will create an "archival" crate that speaks from (and into) archival processes and objects alongside written reflections on their methods.

This residency coincides with the launch of the second round of the international residency program at saai in cooperation with Wüstenrot Foundation, where three international scholars will investigate archival materials at the saai to ask how architectural "schools" emerge, operate, and affect architecture production.

Save the date

On 7 July 2026, Cansu Cürgen and Avşar Gürpınar will present their artistic practice and methodology of assembling archival crates filled with collected objects in the Lise Meitner Group's series "The Making Of". Further information can be found here

Collaborators

KHI Historical Archive (Katia Mazzucco)
saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering (Anna-Maria Meister, Joaquín Medina Warmburg, Doris Hallama, Eva Just, Martin Kunz, Joshua Silver, Mechthild Ebert, Isa-Katrin Strunk, Doris Gadinger)
Lise Meitner Group “Coded Objects” (Anna-Maria Meister, Anna Luise Schubert, Mimi Cheng, Azar Emami Pari)

Image caption:
Presentation by the Ambiguous Standards Institute (ASI) during the symposium “Coded. A Somewhat Emotional State” at the KHI Florence, November 2025. Photo: Leonardo Bocci