Unstable Structures
06 Jun—15 June (10 dates)
Greater Glasgow & Clyde Discussion Exhibition
Event Summary
Exhibition showcasing new body of work in the form of architectural sculptures produced by artist and architect Veronika Desova.
Time
11am - 4pm
Date(s)
06 Jun—15 June
Location
The Courtroom Space, Oxford House, Glasgow G5 9EP
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Additional Location Info
1st floor of Oxford House, Courtroom Space, accessible by staircaseSupporters
– GIA (Glasgow Institute of Architects)
Organiser
Veronika Desova
Social
Unstable Structures is a site-responsive exhibition of new sculptural and photographic work by artist and architect Veronika Desova. Presented in the Courtroom Space of Oxford House in Glasgow, the exhibition explores a tectonic narrative related to the theme of instability - physical, social, and emotional - as a material condition and a metaphor for our times.
The venue itself is central to the work. Once a formal space of judgment and authority, the courtroom now stands in a state of elegant decay: ceilings leak, plaster crumbles, and the architecture bears the slow traces of abandonment. Rather than restore or conceal these signs of deterioration, Unstable Structures embraces them through engaging in a conversation with the space and its history. Sculptural forms, constructed from architectural fragments would respond to the venue’s idiosyncrasies: its warped floor, peeling plaster, and exposed ceiling structure in the state of decay. These pieces are not self-contained objects, but precarious, open systems, balancing, straining, leaning and echoing the delicate thresholds between collapse and support.
Glasgow’s urban fabric provides a wider context. A city shaped by cycles of development, deindustrialisation, and community resistance, it reflects the tension between structural failure and social resilience. Within this landscape, the exhibition interrogates how instability plays out not just in buildings, but in public policy, social infrastructure, and collective experience. The fragility of the courtroom mirrors broader civic erosion, yet within this instability, Unstable Structures seeks out spaces for reciprocal care, improvisation, and shared meaning.
Responding directly to the Architecture Fringe's 2025 provocation, Reciprocity – Architectures of Exchange, the exhibition asks what forms of support and mutual aid might emerge when conventional structures no longer hold. In the absence of architectural certainty, how do people hold each other up? How can vulnerability be a site of exchange rather than isolation?
Rather than presenting architecture as static or monumental, the work here proposes a living, relational practice, one that listens, adapts, and allows room for failure and reconfiguration. The sculptures are not fixed; their arrangement may shift over time, and visitors are invited to navigate them as part of a broader, evolving dialogue with the space. Public engagement will extend this ethos, through informal gatherings, conversations, and participatory moments that explore themes of instability, reciprocity, and the architectural politics of care.
Ultimately, Unstable Structures is not just an exhibition of forms, but a framework for reflection. By situating sculptural practice within a leaking, collapsing, yet deeply resonant space, it invites audiences to consider what it means to build and rebuild in the face of uncertainty—and how architecture might support not just structures, but relationships.
Sub Events
Unstable Structures: Seminar and Talk
Architectural Seminar exploring themes of instability.
14.06.2025 / 4pm - 5:30pm
More info
See also:
Switch on! Visualising Inclusive Communities
18 Jun—22 June
