As Christian Slater once said -- Greetings and Salutations.
I have officially reached the "awwfuckit" stage at work which seems like a good reason to start this schoolblog. Last weekend a few of us rented an RV and drove from Baltimore (current home) to Ashville and Raleigh and back home. We made a pilgrimage to FoamHenge. Yes, it was everything I hoped it would be. Which is to say not much. Except for being awesome. We had a phenomenal streak of restaurant / bar luck throughout the trip. Root Bar & The Admiral in Asheville were great. Special shout out to RootBall (which we are going to steal, rebrand and release in Baltimore as ClawBall – pronounced “Crawball”). Um, yeah. So the combination of this trip and the fact that I only have two and a half weeks left of work is making it very hard to stay productive. So Up and Atom.
I will be moving to Boston in three weeks and shortly thereafter starting the MLA II program at the GSD. Im excited to think again. And be all Utopic n’stuff. I work for a property development company right now. Comprende? I will probably follow up this intro post with an entry on my background / portfolio upload etc. But now I want to look forward a little: School. Oh shit, what did I just get myself into? Debt. Pretentious archi-babble from fellow students and professors. Uncertain future. Another move. Roommates. The word ‘Wicked.’ Unbearable Boston sports fans. And…..Ecological Urbanism.
This last item has me the most worried. ‘Ecological Urbanism’ was the title of the annual conference held at the GSD this year (which overlaps with the accepted student open house). It also seems to be the dominant trend in ideology among students and teachers there. Which is great and all if you are into that sort of thing. I am not so much. I like Peter Zumthor, Robert Smithson and Mr. Rogers. Rauschenberg, Irwin & Cage. I see public open space, both intra-personally and socially, as the most potent of artistic vehicles. How can / does our environment shape the way we see our world? I am returning to school to explore public open space as an artistic medium pursuant of individual changes in perception. Why not go somewhere more ‘arty’ you ask? Read my next entry on background info. For now help me pick a studio for this coming semester. I am leaning heavily toward one of them, but don’t know how the studio lottery process works or will unfold.
1401: The Greek City of Edessa: Search for a Sustainable Future
Spiro Pollalis, Martha Schwartz
1402: Designing the Ecology of Democracy: Speculations on National Identity, Free Speech, the American Elm, and the Nation's Front Yard
Gary Hilderbrand
1403: Boston Botany Bay: The Naked Garden as Spectacle of Plant Psycho-Geography
Bridget Baines, Eelco Hooftman
1404: Toward an Industrial Ecology for New Caofeidian
Nanako Umemoto
7 Comments
Hi andrew,
This one seems most in line with your interests in public, open space as an artistic vehicle
1402: Designing the Ecology of Democracy: Speculations on National Identity, Free Speech, the American Elm, and the Nation's Front Yard
Gary Hilderbrand
designing the ecology of democracy sounds like a good chance to flex your muscles being all utopic and whatnot.
im excited to hear how your research into public space as an artistic medium goes this year. i think this is a pretty fascinating topic!
good luck lotterying,
sd
andrew- don't fear ecological urbanism, embrace it! then you can subvert it to your own artistic ends. just because it's ecological doesn't make it artless...
good luck with the move, grad school, and hearing folks say 'wicked'!
Andrew, I enjoyed reading your post. Looking forward to meeting you around Gund! (I'm starting in the M.Arch.I this year).
Lian
Treekiller: I don't think my interest and ecological urbanism are mutually exclusive, in fact I think its a good thing for the world/profession. I just don't want it to be the driving force of my work.
Lian: Likewise. Your post is what got me off my arse to start this. See you there.
Andrew, best of luck at the GSD and in this blog! Glad to see MLA's represented...
Ecological Urbanism would bring in good or bad like anything it too has its own merits and demerits, but things should go on to work. If we do not ever try to get them worked will we ever see results. All of the things that work is done by our experiments and experience and this too shall. Hope for the best. ADT Security | Masters Tickets | Patio Furniture
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