Architects Christian Grou (born in Bucharest, Romania 1969) and Tapio Snellman (born in Helsinki, Finland 1969) have been working together since 1998 when they collaborated in Tokyo to produce the film 'seek.01'. Since establishing themselves in London as 'neutral', they have explored the realm of moving image and architecture through numerous collaborations with other architects, through self commissioned conceptual films dealing with urbanity as well as through commercial moving image and interactive digital work.
The architectural animation work encompasses collaborations with Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, David Adjaye and David Chipperfield. In 2002, neutral was an integral part of Herzog & de Meuron’s winning design team, a competition entry to create stadium for the 2006 World Cup in Munich. 'Place to Passage', a multiscreen video commission created in collaboration with fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, explores the possibilities of creating an architectural ever changing space through multiple film projections.
Corporate work has attracted clients such as Lufthansa German Airlines to produce video-animations and interface design. This kind work is seen as an integral part for creative dynamics rather than just a means for financing non-commercial work.
In the meantime, neutral have continued to produce their own independent films, having recently completed work on Seek.02, a film about the overlapping cultural space of Bombay and London. A new film, on the boundaries of Cairo is to be launched in the autumn of 2004.
Since 1999 Tapio Snellman and Christian Grou have given lectures and workshops at academic institutions, including at the Department of Architecture at Tokyo University, the School of Architecture at Bath University, the Proje 4L Museum of Contemporary Arts in Istanbul, the Automotive Department at the Royal College of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève and the Kunstakademie in Stuttgart.
lon@neutral.gs
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