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August 18, 2010Architecture’s Expanded Territories
August 3, 2010
99th ACSA Annual Conference
Architecture’s Expanded Territories
Topic chairs: Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo / Mason White, University of Toronto
In Rosalind Krauss’s 1979 essay “Sculpture in the Expanded Field,” (PDF) Krauss observed that the practice of sculpture had been obscured and could only qualify itself in opposition to architecture and landscape. Krauss identifies three additional practices of sculpture that sculpture had previously been burdened with and names them “site-construction,” marked sites,” and “axiomatic structures.” Taking up a similar cause in 2004, Anthony Vidler offered emergent practices for “Architectures Expanded Field,” (DOC) by arguing that “underlying the new architectural experimentation is a serious attempt to reconstrue the foundations of the discipline, not so much in singular terms, but in broader concepts that acknowledge an expanded field, while seeking to overcome the problematic dualisms that have plagued architecture for over a century: form and function, historicism and abstraction, utopia and reality, structure and enclosure.”
Vidler’s potent proclamation and offer to architecture to evolve with its time has incubated for more than 6 years. Where are we now in this (still) expanding field? This session will table the messy and contentious territory between architecture, landscape, ecology, and urban design. A territory whose foundation was cultivated by Benton MacKaye, planned by Constantinos Doxiadis, designed by Cedric Price, with recent developments chronicled by Keller Easterling, among others. In short, the session will look at where the XXL and the S meet, or a new architecture within our expanding territories.
It could be argued that the potential of an expanded territory is increasingly being hijacked by an agenda of “good practice,” in the name of sustainability, often reducing architecture to the operational concerns of construction efficiency and building performance on a particular site. This session asks what form, format, and programs might exist in the new territory afforded by a deeper understanding of site? Or, what is sustainable design without the burden of sustainability?
What defines these expanding territories? Architecture’s recent privileging of operational costs over capital costs is a paradigm shift in scale, program, and function. No longer relegated to façade design only, we are seeing ever-expanding ambiguities of architecture’s envelope. This session seeks to find these large territorial lines, interrogate them, design them, and expose them. What potential lies in the tools encouraging a widening envelope of design influence – environmental data, maps, politics, economies – upon a give site? Sometimes it might not even look like architecture.
The session calls for speculative design research proposals or critical papers to think big. How does design operate at the scale of the region or the globe? Forgoing utopian ambitions to design the region or the globe, how can design participate in the temporal space of emerging natural and artificial systems – energies, ecologies, mobilities, and, possibly most importantly, economies? What is the role and operation of the big project in our age of urgent environmental issues and crippled economy? Where do you stand in the expanding territory?
Text by InfraNet Lab.
Dead Birds
June 16, 2010
Dead Birds
Directed by Robert Gardner
1964, 84 min.
“A cinematographic interpretation of the life of a group of Grand Valley Dani, who are mountain Papuans in West New Guinea (Irian Barat, Indonesia), studied by the Harvard-Peabody Expedition (1961-1963). This film was made by Gardner in 1961, before the area was pacified by the Dutch government. The film focuses on Weyak, the farmer and warrior, and on Pua, the young swineherd, following them through the events of Dani life: sweet potato horticulture, pig keeping, salt winning, battles, raids, and ceremonies.” — Karl G. Heider
PUBMED
May 17, 2010
BBC – The beauty of maps – Seeing The Art In Cartography
May 11, 2010
BBC The Beauty of Maps: Seeing the Art in Cartograpyis a BBC television series which focuses on matters concerning data visualization and how is becoming an interesting feature in popular press.
Scientists Discover How the Brain Encodes Memories at a Cellular Level
March 31, 2010
UCSB Scientists Discover How the Brain Encodes Memories at a Cellular Level.
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a major discovery in how the brain encodes memories. The finding, published in the December 24 issue of the journal Neuron, could eventually lead to the development of new drugs to aid memory.
The team of scientists is the first to uncover a central process in encoding memories that occurs at the level of the synapse, where neurons connect with each other.
“When we learn new things, when we store memories, there are a number of things that have to happen,” said senior author Kenneth S. Kosik, co-director and Harriman Chair in Neuroscience Research, at UCSB’s Neuroscience Research Institute. Kosik is a leading researcher in the area of Alzheimer’s disease.
“One of the most important processes is that the synapses –– which cement those memories into place –– have to be strengthened,” said Kosik. “In strengthening a synapse you build a connection, and certain synapses are encoding a memory. Those synapses have to be strengthened so that memory is in place and stays there. Strengthening synapses is a very important part of learning. What we have found appears to be one part of how that happens.”
Continue HERE.
Myxomycetes a.k.a. Slime Molds
March 25, 2010
Slime molds are fungus-like organisms that have previously been classified as fungi, and later as Myxomycetes. They are no longer classified as fungi. Depending on the sources, there are now two or three different groups of slime molds, one of which is the myxomycetes. These now fall under the broader category of eukarya.
In general however, slime molds are characterized by the production of relatively large, single-celled, multinucleate bodies called plasmodia (singular = plasmodium). Plasmodia are the feeding stages of slime molds, and they are frequently seen on lawns, small plants, mulch, and decaying wood in late summer. Slime molds are not plant parasites, but they may injure plants by covering and shading them. (text from Cornell University Plantclinic)
From the introduction to Steven Johnson’s 2001 book, Emergence: If you’re reading these words during the summer in a suburban or rural part of the world, chances are somewhere near you a slime mold is growing. Walk through a normally cool, damp section of a forest on a dry and sunny day, or sift through the bark mulch that lies on a garden floor, and you may find a grotesque substance coating a few inches of rotting wood. On first inspection, the reddish orange mass suggests that the neighbor’s dog has eaten something disagreeable, but if you observe the slime mold over several days — or, even better, capture it with time-lapse photography — you’ll discover that it moves, ever so slowly, across the soil. If the weather conditions grow wetter and cooler, you may return to the same spot and find the creature has disappeared altogether. Has it wandered off to some other part of the forest? Or somehow vanished into thin air, like a puddle of water evaporating?
Get more images and their description HERE.
Discovering Species in Nangaritza, Ecuador
June 26, 2009
A Refuge for Species
“Located in southeastern Ecuador, near the Peruvian border, the Nangaritza River valley is mountainous, heavily forested and relatively inaccessible to most people. The upper river valley is known for its Tepuyes, or tabletop mountains, which are home to many species that are found nowhere else on earth, as well as other species whose populations are threatened in other locations but remain plentiful here.
Nangaritza’s isolation has not only helped to protect the mountain ecosystem from destruction, it has also long posed a challenge to detailed scientific study. Part of the region is under the protection of the Nangaritza Protected Forest, but wildlife experts believe that more land must be protected for this unique environment to thrive.
The Shuar indigenous association and a local farming organization have been granted management over much of the protected forest, but these groups are proposing that the lands be upgraded to a higher protection status, where they will be more sustainably managed. Before this step can be taken, however, more scientific data is needed.”
Text by CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL
Viva Neil deGrasse Tyson!!!
March 13, 2009
In case you want to know more about this friendly lucid astrophysicist:
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Tyson’s Wiki
and then:
Isaac Newton
How your brain creates God
March 13, 2009
“The origin of religious belief is something of a mystery, but in recent years scientists have started to make suggestions. One leading idea is that religion is an evolutionary adaptation that makes people more likely to survive and pass their genes onto the next generation. In this view, shared religious belief helped our ancestors form tightly knit groups that cooperated in hunting, foraging and childcare, enabling these groups to outcompete others. In this way, the theory goes, religion was selected for by evolution, and eventually permeated every human society.”
Read this article at NEW SCIENTIST
…Ecology – A New Opium for the Masses
February 15, 2009
In this essay Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek discusses the ‘naturalization’ of capitalism and how ecology became a new field of capitalist investment. He also argues that the ultimate consequence of recent developments in biogenetics will be the ‘end of nature’ – anyone cares to introduce the good man into nextnature thinking? According to Žižek ecological apartheid will divide our urban society. Capitalism is not in control of nature and due to techno-scientific interventions the essence of the ecological order will be lost.
Written by Slavoj Žižek, originally published at Lacan.com. Via Volume.
Marco Cicala, a Leftist Italian journalist, told me about his recent weird experience: when, in an article, he once used the word “capitalism,” the editor asked him if the use of this term is really necessary – could he not replace it by a synonymous one, like “economy”? What better proof of the total triumph of capitalism than the virtual disappearance of the very term in the last 2 or 3 decades? No one, with the exception of a few allegedly archaic Marxists, refers to capitalism any longer. The term was simply struck from the vocabulary of politicians, trade unionists, writers and journalists – even of social scientists… But what about the upsurge of the anti-globalization movement in the last years? Does it not clearly contradict this diagnostic? No: a close look quickly shows how this movement also succumbs to “the temptation to transform a critique of capitalism itself (centered on economic mechanisms, forms of work organization, and profit extraction) into a critique of ‘imperialism’.” In this way, when one talks about “globalization and its agents,” the enemy is externalized (usually in the form of vulgar anti-Americanism). From this perspective, where the main task today is to fight “the American empire,” any ally is good if it is anti-American, and so the unbridled Chinese “Communist” capitalism, violent Islamic anti-modernists, as well as the obscene Lukashenko regime in Belarus may appear as progressive anti-globalist comrades-in-arms… What we have here is thus another version of the ill-famed notion of “alternate modernity”: instead of the critique of capitalism as such, of confronting its basic mechanism, we get the critique of the imperialist “excess,” with the (silent) notion of mobilizing capitalist mechanisms within another, more “progressive,” frame.
The History of Visual Communication
January 16, 2009
The artist, designer and educator Elif Ayiter presents “The History of Visual Communication” , a dedicated website project that focuses on the history of the translation of ideas, stories and concepts that are largely textual or word based into a visual format, i.e. Visual Communication. Very useful piece of material. Thank you Elif Ayiter!
The History of Visual Communication
Also relevant: The Atlas of CyberSpace
Lucid Dreams with…
December 28, 2008… plants commonly known as Oneirogens.
Etymology: From the Greek “oneiros” meaning dream and “gen” meaning to create, describes that which produces a dream-like state of consciousness.
Silene capensis (syn. Silene undulata) (also known as African Dream Root) is a plant native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where is regarded by the Xhosa people as a sacred plant. Its root is traditionally used to induce vivid (and according to the Xhosa, prophetic) lucid dreams during the initiation process of shamans, classifying it a naturally-occurring oneirogen similar to the more well-known dream herb Calea zacatechichi.
Calea zacatechichi, also known as Dream Herb, Cheech, and Bitter Grass, is a plant used by the indigenous Chontal of the Mexican state of Oaxaca for oneiromancy (a form of divination based on dreams.) The plant naturally occurs from southern Mexico to northern Costa Rica. It has been scientifically demonstrated that extracts of this plant increase reaction times and the frequency and/or recollection of dreams[1] versus placebo and diazepam. It is also employed by the Chontal people as a medicinal herb against gastrointestinal disorders, and is used as an appetizer, cathartic anti-dysentery remedy, and as a fever-reducing agent.
Entada rheedii is a large woody liana or climber. It is also known as African Dream Herb and Snuff Box Sea Bean. It is often spelled as Entada rheedei, though initially published as E. rheedii. The alternate spelling is to correctly honour Hendrik Adriaan von Rheede tot Draakestein (1637-1691).
Its leaves are dried and smoked to induce vivid dreams. Its seeds are found on east and southern African beaches, having grown on river and estuary banks and in swamp forest. They have thick and durable seed coats and can survive lengthy periods of immersion in sea water. These seeds are sought after as pieces of jewelry and as good-luck charms. As a result of its ready dispersal by sea, Entada rheedii is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
Information here obtained from Wiki, inspired on the research of Krystle Cole from Neuro Soup. Someone to meet….Really pleasant gal, and lots of juicy (literally) information for the neuro-travelers.
post by Wanderlust
Milky Way’s Black Hole
December 10, 2008
This is the central parts of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as observed in the near-infrared with the NACO instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. By following the motions of the most central stars over more than 16 years, astronomers were able to determine the mass of the supermassive black hole that lurks there. (Image: NASA/CXC/MIT/F K Baganoff et al)
By watching the motions of 28 stars orbiting the Milky Way’s most central region with admirable patience and amazing precision, astronomers have been able to study the supermassive black hole lurking there. It is known as “Sagittarius A*” (pronounced “Sagittarius A star”). The new research marks the first time that the orbits of so many of these central stars have been calculated precisely and reveals information about the enigmatic formation of these stars — and about the black hole to which they are bound.
“The centre of the Galaxy is a unique laboratory where we can study the fundamental processes of strong gravity, stellar dynamics and star formation that are of great relevance to all other galactic nuclei, with a level of detail that will never be possible beyond our Galaxy,” explains Reinhard Genzel, leader of the team from the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich. (text by Physorg)
Continue reading on PHYSORG
CREDIT: I. Rodrigues and I.F. Mirabel, Space Telescope Science Institute, NRAO/AUI/NSF.
post by Waderlust
DIY: A Handbook for Changing Our World
December 3, 2008
DO IT YOURSELF: A Handbook for Changing Our World / Edited by The Trapese Collective. Trapese is a Popular Education collective who offers workshops and training aimed at inspiring and promoting action for changing our world.
A Radical Guide to Ethical and Sustainable Living
Climate change, resource wars, privatization, the growing gap between rich and poor, politicians that don’t listen. Massive issues, but how can we make any difference?
This book shows how. It’s not a book about what’s wrong with the world, but a collection of dynamic ideas which explore how we can build radical and meaningful social change, ourselves, here and now. Covering nine themes, the book weaves together analysis, stories and experiences. It combines in-depth analytical chapters followed by easy to follow “How to Guides” with practical ideas for organizing collectively for change.
Obtain it here: http://www.handbookforchange.org/
The Selk’nam
November 27, 2008
The Selk’nam also known as the Ona, lived in the Tierra del Fuego islands, in southern Chile and Argentina. They were one of the last aboriginal groups in South America to be reached by Westerners, in the late 19th century, when the Chilean and Argentine governments began efforts to explore and integrate Tierra del Fuego (literally, the “land of fire” based on early European explorers observing Selk’nam smoke from their bonfires).
The pictures are scanned postcards and the additional info mentions E. Lucas Bridges, the only European to live amongst the Ona and learn their language and customs before they became extinct.
Small Talk Diaries
November 27, 2008
The Small Talk Diaries is a 10-part series introducing children to the mini-beasts that can be found in most back gardens and playgrounds, using a pioneering blend of macro-photography, computer graphics, animation and humor.
Each episode of the Small Talk Diaries focuses on the patterns of behavior or character that different insect species have in common – viewers can meet the Inventors, the Travellers, the Predators, the Entertainers, and many more.
The series was originally aired on CBBC in March, and proved such a hit with TV critics and viewers of all ages that BBC2 screened the Diaries from Monday 23 June – Friday 4 July to mark National Insect Week 2008.
Smalltalk Diaries is an Ammonite production in association with Big Squid, CBBC and Off The Fence.
Future of Food in Japan
November 23, 2008An isometric public service announcement from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. It’s remarkable for making very complex, interconnected issues — i.e., food security, public health, global trade,traditional diets, energy and geography, — more readily understandable.
Video produced by the Parisian duo H5 (the ones that made the video for Röyksopp’s single Remind Me, and many others)
post by Wanderlust
Fluoride NO MORE (save yourself and others)
October 31, 2008
(Mom! What is that transparent thing coming out of the faucet?)
Dear Friends:
There is a LOT of information available about fluoride out there, but this info. is sometimes conflicting (e.g. Fluoride Information Movement vs. Fluoride Action Network ). How can we make up our minds about it? Why? After a extensive research over net and some libraries, I felt the necessity to expose some studies and some facts that I find pertinent. Obviously, I ENCOURAGE you to do your own research…In any case, these links will lead you to some relevant sources.
From the Fluoride Action Network (an international coalition seeking to broaden public awareness about the toxicity of fluoride compounds and the health impacts of current fluoride exposures) website 50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation, I only present you 10 of those clear reasons.
Here we go:
01) Fluoride is not an essential nutrient (NRC 1993 and IOM 1997). No disease has ever been linked to a fluoride deficiency. Humans can have perfectly good teeth without fluoride.
02) Fluoridation is not necessary. Most Western European countries are not fluoridated and have experienced the same decline in dental decay as the US (See data from World Health Organization in Appendix 1, and the time trends presented graphically at http://www.fluoridealert.org/who-dmft.htm ). The reasons given by countries for not fluoridating are presented in Appendix 2.)
03) Where fluoridation has been discontinued in communities from Canada, the former East Germany, Cuba and Finland, dental decay has not increased but has actually decreased (Maupome 2001; Kunzel and Fischer,1997,2000; Kunzel 2000 and Seppa 2000).
04) There have been numerous recent reports of dental crises in US cities (e.g. Boston, Cincinnati, New York City) which have been fluoridated for over 20 years. There appears to be a far greater (inverse) relationship between tooth decay and income level than with water fluoride levels.
Modern research (e.g. Diesendorf 1986; Colquhoun 1997, and De Liefde, 1998) shows that decay rates were coming down before fluoridation was introduced and have continued to decline even after its benefits would have been maximized. Many other factors influence tooth decay. Some recent studies have found that tooth decay actually increases as the fluoride concentration in the water increases (Olsson 1979; Retief 1979; Mann 1987, 1990; Steelink 1992; Teotia 1994; Grobleri 2001; Awadia 2002 and Ekanayake 2002).
The Hacking Lifestyle
August 19, 2008
Hacking has been part of our lifestyles for many year now. We all hack to a certain degree. The term hackingis used for different purposes and is commonly used to refer to illegal activity performed by computer experts. However, hacking can take different forms and approaches. It can go from furniture and architecture to toys and other electronic devices. Hacking basically refers to the act of customizing of modifying everyday products to improve their functionality, re-purpose them for conceptual reasons, pure entertainment or a clever fusion of all the previously mentioned. Today, hacking practice and theories are used in different fields as a tool to reveal how systems are built and learning how they operate. Something that should become mandatory in our societies.
Just in case you are new to this subject (i don’t thinks so), I am going to bombard you with a selection of links that can inform you in more specific ways or take you through the different hacking avenues.
HACKING FURNITURE
‘greewich tea time’ table & ‘low waist’ bookshelf by moebler. (http://diemoebler.de)
‘laptop desk’ by adam – a simple saw turns a stool into a lapdesk. (http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com)
HACKING ARCHITECHTURE
Shipping containers become homes.(WebUrbanist)
Airplane fuselage public library proposal. (Noticias Arquitectura)
BIKE HACKING
‘shopping bike’ by ryan mcfarland & ‘my railbike’ by jesse ingham (Wired)
HACKING SOUND
Handmade circuit bending devices by Brazilian noisician Pan&Tone ( Pan&Tone )
Bent Festival DiY electronics. BENT
….and more more “Hackyness”:
http://hackszine.com
http://makezine.com/
http://www.instructables.com/
http://hackedgadgets.com/
http://hacknmod.com/
http://www.hackaday.com/
Can we think without Language?
July 5, 2008
Gary Lupyan’s experiment measures to what degree language helps us to categorize similar objects. (Its says ‘to think’ but is that really the proper word for the mental activity needed in this test?) It shows that recognizing minute differences in novel objects is easier to learn when words, invented for the purpose, are available to help form conceptual groups. But the final differences between people being given words and those who were left in a void, can hardly be called impressive. Conclusion: You do not need languange to think, but it helps.
Here are some snippets from CognitiveDaily
“Each object is different, but they all share similar features. We might be tempted to invent just one new word to describe the entire set of objects. Closer inspection reveals that the eight objects on the left share some features which distinguish them from the objects on the right. If we invent one word, “leebish” to categorize the objects on the left, and another, “grecious,” to categorize those on the right, will people be better at distinguishing between the two types of objects?”
“Lupyan’s team showed the objects to 48 college students, asking them to imagine that these objects were aliens from a faraway planet. The students themselves were “explorers,” studying these aliens. Their job was to figure out which aliens were approachable, and which should be avoided. “
“The students who saw the labels learned the difference between approachable and unapproachable aliens significantly faster than students who didn’t see the labels — even though the labels gave them no information that wasn’t available in the unlabeled condition. During the testing session, 8 new aliens that hadn’t been seen before (but were clearly members of one of the categories) were introduced. Once again, the students who had seen the labels performed significantly better (no labels were present during the testing session). “
Global Footprint Network
June 26, 2008
Global Footprint Network is committed to fostering a world where all people have the opportunity to live satisfying lives within the means of Earth’s ecological capacity. We are dedicated to advancing the scientific rigor and practical application of the Ecological Footprint, a tool that quantifies human demand on nature, and nature’s capacity to meet these demands. Conceived in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at The University of British Columbia, the Ecological Footprint is now in wide use by governments, communities, and businesses to monitor current ecological resource balances and to plan for the future.
Know more about Global Footprint Network
Cape Farewell keeps going
June 22, 2008
Siobhan Davies, Walking Dance, 2005 (still).
Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, Ice Lens, 2005, (process).
Cape Farewell was conceived by artist/filmmaker David Buckland and during the past five years he and a varying team of artists, writers, choreographers, filmmakers, environmentalists and scientists have worked on a 100-year old Dutch schooner called The Noorderlicht. Located in a fjord near Longyerben, Svalbard, just north of the 79th parallel, they respond to the environment and reflect the earths change where its most sensitive, the arctic circle. They draw attention to the role ocean currents play and the effect that rising CO2 levels and changing weather patterns will have. The team have already developed a major exhibitions programme, a book Burning Ice – Art & Climate Change and the DVD Art From A Changing Arctic. On his last mission, Buckland invited novelist Ian McEwan, playwright Caryl Churchill, artist Antony Gormley and choreographer Siobhan Davies. Turner prize winner Gormley worked in conditions of -32 degrees to complete an ice sculpture that lasted only three months.
(thanks 2 Free Soil)
VISIT CAPE FAREWELL
Bike for Good
June 6, 2008Design 21 recently launched an inspiring bicycle-focused design competition called Power to the Pedal (check the clever bikes). DESIGN 21 is a Social Design Network with a mission is to inspire social activism through design. They connect people who want to explore ways design can positively impact our many worlds, and who want to create change here, now. Wanna Join them?
COAL PLANT DEATHWATCH MAP
May 31, 2008
Earth2tech have put together a great interactive google map which shows the locations of coal plants that have fallen to the wayside, documenting the demise of these obsolete, smog belching beasts and presenting the info in powerful graphic form. Interactive maps can give many people the power to induce change or at least be informed of what is going on in their own community. You can keep up with the coal plant deathwatch with Earth2Tech’s ongoing map updates.
>>Coal Deathwatch Map @ Earth2tech
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