Tango, it is said, originates from the Afro-Argentinean word ‘zango’ or ‘tambor’, the word for th... more Tango, it is said, originates from the Afro-Argentinean word ‘zango’ or ‘tambor’, the word for the drums of the arriving slaves from Africa, calling up memories and rituals of their homelands. Perhaps it means the place for the forbidden celebrations of the black population on the edges of the cities of the South Cone? A song, a dance, a choreography, a noun without etymology, no origin other than naming that without name, describing a place, a sentiment, an atmosphere or a certain time or place. Or perhaps it is linked to the word tangere, meaning touch, tangent—that which barely touches on a marginal point of the circumference of a circle...its edge, the periphery. A tangent, the touching of two lines that do not intersect. An infinitesimally delicate act, like kissing—touching at a point that tends to nothing mathematically. A definition that speaks of the tension between two lines, two bodies...and their displacements. The touching line, linea tangens. Into the abstract, rarefied language of geometry and line enters a beautifully descriptive definition that speaks as though the line had emotive power capable of touching, of being touched or of having a physical existence. A movement of the interior soul of the line that reaches out, without deflecting and touches—only just—another.
The following evidence gathered is of particular relevance to strategic pathway planning towards ... more The following evidence gathered is of particular relevance to strategic pathway planning towards a decarbonised society where focus is placed on the design of environments rather than the design of buildings only. Building buildings is only one tool within a toolkit capable of improving and enhancing environments. The call for evidence suggests a narrow focus driven by potentially one-dimensional sustainable outcomes such as need for adaptation measures to building with little or no consideration for alternatives to building. Greater focus is needed on evidence that supports alternatives to building; new methods and new measures that account for social and cultural dimensions in evaluating sustainability in the built environment, and the embracing of multiplicity and diversity that allows for reskilling and knowledge-sharing in a meaningful way
DESIGN ACT Socially and politically engaged design today – critical roles and emerging tactics is... more DESIGN ACT Socially and politically engaged design today – critical roles and emerging tactics is a book that presents and discusses contemporary design practices that engage with political and societal issues. Since 2009, the Iaspis project DESIGN ACT has been highlighting and discussing practices in which designers have been engaging critically as well as practically in such issues. Itself an example of applied critical thinking and experimental tactics, the process behind the DESIGN ACT project is considered as a curatorial, participatory and open-ended activity. DESIGN ACT has developed through an online archive, public events and an international network. This book complements the project, presenting historical and contemporary perspectives, a discussion of emerging themes and tactics, and platforms discussing the role of designers today.
This text focuses on issues of representation particular to the city of Buenos Aires in the 1930s... more This text focuses on issues of representation particular to the city of Buenos Aires in the 1930s, through the modernist photographs of Horacio Coppola. During this time, the edges of the city, its peripheries and everyday life became a strong feature of a rapidly changing city and laid the foundations for a mythology of the origins and the present status of a national identity. The exploration of the relationship between the political and aesthetic discourse of these images is linked to the representations of the city itself. It sets the conditions for an interpretation of the work within the context of the cultural debate in Argentina and as part of the Modern project. Discussing questions of nationality, constitution of culture in a peripheral country, and representation as an ideological construct. Hard to believe Buenos Aires had any beginning. I feel it to be as eternal as air and water. Jorge Luis Borges, The mythical founding of Buenos Aires, 1929
Tango, it is said, originates from the Afro-Argentinean word ‘zango’ or ‘tambor’, the word for th... more Tango, it is said, originates from the Afro-Argentinean word ‘zango’ or ‘tambor’, the word for the drums of the arriving slaves from Africa, calling up memories and rituals of their homelands. Perhaps it means the place for the forbidden celebrations of the black population on the edges of the cities of the South Cone? A song, a dance, a choreography, a noun without etymology, no origin other than naming that without name, describing a place, a sentiment, an atmosphere or a certain time or place. Or perhaps it is linked to the word tangere, meaning touch, tangent—that which barely touches on a marginal point of the circumference of a circle...its edge, the periphery. A tangent, the touching of two lines that do not intersect. An infinitesimally delicate act, like kissing—touching at a point that tends to nothing mathematically. A definition that speaks of the tension between two lines, two bodies...and their displacements. The touching line, linea tangens. Into the abstract, rarefied language of geometry and line enters a beautifully descriptive definition that speaks as though the line had emotive power capable of touching, of being touched or of having a physical existence. A movement of the interior soul of the line that reaches out, without deflecting and touches—only just—another.
The following evidence gathered is of particular relevance to strategic pathway planning towards ... more The following evidence gathered is of particular relevance to strategic pathway planning towards a decarbonised society where focus is placed on the design of environments rather than the design of buildings only. Building buildings is only one tool within a toolkit capable of improving and enhancing environments. The call for evidence suggests a narrow focus driven by potentially one-dimensional sustainable outcomes such as need for adaptation measures to building with little or no consideration for alternatives to building. Greater focus is needed on evidence that supports alternatives to building; new methods and new measures that account for social and cultural dimensions in evaluating sustainability in the built environment, and the embracing of multiplicity and diversity that allows for reskilling and knowledge-sharing in a meaningful way
DESIGN ACT Socially and politically engaged design today – critical roles and emerging tactics is... more DESIGN ACT Socially and politically engaged design today – critical roles and emerging tactics is a book that presents and discusses contemporary design practices that engage with political and societal issues. Since 2009, the Iaspis project DESIGN ACT has been highlighting and discussing practices in which designers have been engaging critically as well as practically in such issues. Itself an example of applied critical thinking and experimental tactics, the process behind the DESIGN ACT project is considered as a curatorial, participatory and open-ended activity. DESIGN ACT has developed through an online archive, public events and an international network. This book complements the project, presenting historical and contemporary perspectives, a discussion of emerging themes and tactics, and platforms discussing the role of designers today.
This text focuses on issues of representation particular to the city of Buenos Aires in the 1930s... more This text focuses on issues of representation particular to the city of Buenos Aires in the 1930s, through the modernist photographs of Horacio Coppola. During this time, the edges of the city, its peripheries and everyday life became a strong feature of a rapidly changing city and laid the foundations for a mythology of the origins and the present status of a national identity. The exploration of the relationship between the political and aesthetic discourse of these images is linked to the representations of the city itself. It sets the conditions for an interpretation of the work within the context of the cultural debate in Argentina and as part of the Modern project. Discussing questions of nationality, constitution of culture in a peripheral country, and representation as an ideological construct. Hard to believe Buenos Aires had any beginning. I feel it to be as eternal as air and water. Jorge Luis Borges, The mythical founding of Buenos Aires, 1929
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