Research in Residence #2: Anna Puigjaner / MAIO

Louis Herman De Koninck’s iconic CUBEX kitchen system started to be commercialized in 1931 widespreading modern cooking principles in Belgium for decades. Based on a functional 60cm modular system, its layout promoted efficiency and hygienic principles all the while reinforcing gendered constructs around reproduction. Architecture -and domestic spaces in particular- have historically contributed to promoting and perpetuating biased social models around care practices.

The exhibition Unworlding CUBEX critically revisits the original design, speculating on new potential forms of kinship and domestic labour. Anna Puigjaner (MAIO) is the second researcher to re-exhibit CIVA’s collections through the program of Research in Residence, following her research Kitchenless Cities, where the elimination of the kitchen from the house allows the domestication of the urban sphere.