Sep '06 - Dec '09
Just had a pretty momentous personal occasion and I almost did not even notice it. At 4PM EST I finished the last class of my 8 year MArch journey. It was a conversation with Sanford Kwinter about relational aesthetics, Ai Weiwei, and whether they give us a clue on how to move forward in architecture.
All left to do now is work: two papers, the thesis prep document, and the actual thesis design.
Both classes I took this semester have helped me a lot with thesis. With Kwinter I really got into the political aspects of 'relational aesthetics' and Rirkrit Tiravanija's work. My last paper is going to be on Rirkrit's projects and a proposed connection to Teddy Cruz's projects as evidence of the 'New Synthesis' between art and architecture (the theme of the course).
Waldheim's 'Ecology as Urbanism' class was perhaps even more helpful. Through it I was forced to unpack issues I am familiar with (indexical design, parametrics, etc..) from another disciplinary perspective. I come away from it with a renewed respect for the other design fields and what I view as their more inclusive discourse. I am not sure yet what my paper for this class will be on, but it will probably be something directly tied to my thesis research. One thought was to continue a tangent that I began earlier in the semester looking at Koolhaas' La Villette park as a proposal for a new ecology in the context of a pluralistic society (specially when viewed in contrast to Ian McHarg's), and extending it to OMA's more recent urban work.
Is it weird that I am already beginning to feel nostalgic about school?
Dom-Ino by Rirkrit Tiravanija
photo from: galerie chantal crousel
8 Comments
i miss school... specially now when the recesion will start hitting me hard :P
is that a picture of someone's thesis? looks like it could have been done in the 1920's!
MAD, I am not looking forward to leaving school in this economic situation.
nice vado...
Q,
It would be interesting to hear more about the first paper.
Tiravanija's work in particular and the type of work which deals with performance and artist-public/viewer inter-relationship doesn't seem especially "architectural".
However, i suppose the "new architecture" which has begun to be articulated in recent years which seeks to place emphasis on process and public involvement in the development of the process rather than an object per se does have some similarities..
Any books/articles you can recommend on this topic for me to explore further?
Have many authors articulated/explored this "link" directly?
Hey Nama,
Well, the image above and the connection vado sees in it has a lot to do with the argument. Even with the title Rirkrit is clearly making a comment on architecture. He has also made other projects that (I think) are straight up experiments in architecture / landscape / urbanism.
I used a series of sources to make my argument, but I would read this first: Relational Aesthetics by Nicolas Bourriaud. To see Rirkrit's projects in more detail I think this retrospective is the best source
Q, have you checked out Clare Bishop's and/or Hal Foster's criticism of Bourriaud's and Tiravanija's work? I think you may find it interesting in that it opens up a space for architecture. Let me know if you want me to send their articles along to you.
you have to see this!
http://www.ubu.com/film/relational.html
saudos
rene
thanks enrique and rene!
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