sin poesía no hay ciudad...

Acción Poética Lima

Parenthèse et Nuance...

Avec l'aimable autorisation de Planet Mu Records
Musique / "Mop Head" de Edit
Coproduit par Supermouche Productions
Réalisé à l'E.S.A.L / Épinal
Marc-Antoine Locatelli / 2013


Avec l'aimable autorisation de Planet Mu Records
Musique / "Ants" de Edit
Danse / Lucas Boirat
Coproduit par Supermouche Productions
Réalisé à l'E.S.A.L / Épinal
Marc-Antoine Locatelli / 2013

the beginning of memory...

There’s a story in an ancient play about birds called The Birds/And it’s a short story from before the world began/From a time when there was no earth, no land./Only air and birds everywhere.

But the thing was there was no place to land./Because there was no land./So they just circled around and around./Because this was before the world began.

And the sound was deafening. Songbirds were everywhere./Billions and billions and billions of birds./And one of these birds was a lark and one day her father died./And this was a really big problem because what should they do with the body?

There was no place to put the body because there was no earth./And finally the lark had a solution./She decided to bury her father in the back if her own head./And this was the beginning of memory./Because before this no one could remember a thing./They were just constantly flying in circles./Constantly flying in huge circles.

“The beginning of memory”. 
Laurie Anderson, Homeland (2010)

from "Memoria y Espacio".  Pía Montealegre. 2013

Bifurcaciones: revista de estudios culturales urbanos

the city of Bet She'an...

from  Bet She'an Team

"In the citadel of Bet She'an, where mankind is progressively morphing into crows, a sculptor decides to leave a trace of this dwinling humanity"

"Dans la citadelle de Bet She'an où les hommes se transforment progressivement en corbeaux, un sculpteur décide de laisser une trace de l'humanité."

Directed by :

Calvet David - banditscollective.com -Technical Director-Render-Lighting-Preproduction

Charbonel Jérémy-Environment and Character Modelling-Hair and Cloth Simulation-Sound

Letoile Bastien - banditscollective.com -Director-Animation-Environment Design

Raynaut Guillaume - graynaut.blogspot.fr -Rigging-Skinning-Character Modeling-Compositing

Soler Julien - banditscollective.com -Art Director-Environment Design and Modeling-Character Design

Wang Gongjin-Skies and smokes-Modelsheet and Concept

Home: the place where you become yourself

«Where do you come from? It's such a simple question, but these days, of course, simple questions bring ever more complicated answers.

People are always asking me where I come from, and they're expecting me to say India,and they're absolutely right insofar as 100 percent of my blood and ancestry does come from India. Except, I've never lived one day of my life there. I can't speak even one word of its more than 22,000 dialects. So I don't think I've really earned the right to call myself an Indian. And if "Where do you come from?" means "Where were you born and raised and educated?" then I'm entirely of that funny little country known as England, except I left England as soon as I completed my undergraduate education, and all the time I was growing up, I was the only kid in all my classes who didn't begin to look like the classic English heroes represented in our textbooks. And if "Where do you come from?" means "Where do you pay your taxes? Where do you see your doctor and your dentist?" then I'm very much of the United States, and I have been for 48 years now, since I was a really small child. Except, for many of those years, I've had to carry around this funny little pink cardwith green lines running through my face identifying me as a permanent alien. I do actually feel more alien the longer I live there. And if "Where do you come from?" means "Which place goes deepest inside you and where do you try to spend most of your time?" then I'm Japanese, because I've been living as much as I can for the last 25 years in Japan. Except, all of those years I've been there on a tourist visa, and I'm fairly sure not many Japanese would want to consider me one of them.

(...) when I go to Hong Kong or Sydney or Vancouver, most of the kids I meet are much more international and multi-cultured than I am. And they have one home associated with their parents, but another associated with their partners, a third connected maybe with the place where they happen to be, a fourth connected with the place they dream of being, and many more besides. And their whole life will be spent taking pieces of many different places and putting them together into a stained glass whole. Home for them is really a work in progress. It's like a project on which they're constantly adding upgrades and improvements and corrections.

And for more and more of us, home has really less to do with a piece of soil than, you could say, with a piece of soul. (...) My home would have to be whatever I carried around inside me. And in so many ways, I think this is a terrific liberation. Because when my grandparents were born, they pretty much had their sense of home, their sense of community, even their sense of enmity, assigned to them at birth, and didn't have much chance of stepping outside of that. And nowadays, at least some of us can choose our sense of home, create our sense of community, fashion our sense of self, and in so doing maybe step a little beyond some of the black and white divisions of our grandparents' age. (...)

The number of people living in countries not their own now comes to 220 million, and that's an almost unimaginable number, but it means that if you took the whole population of Canada and the whole population of Australia and then the whole population of Australia again and the whole population of Canada again and doubled that number, you would still have fewer people than belong to this great floating tribe. And the number of us who live outside the old nation-state categories is increasing so quickly, by 64 million just in the last 12 years, that soon there will be more of us than there are Americans. Already, we represent the fifth-largest nation on Earth. And in fact, in Canada's largest city, Toronto, the average resident today is what used to be called a foreigner, somebody born in a very different country.

And I've always felt that the beauty of being surrounded by the foreign is that it slaps you awake. You can't take anything for granted. Travel, for me, is a little bit like being in love, because suddenly all your senses are at the setting marked "on." Suddenly you're alert to the secret patterns of the world. The real voyage of discovery, as Marcel Proust famously said, consists not in seeing new sights, but in looking with new eyes. And of course, once you have new eyes, even the old sights, even your home become something different.

Many of the people living in countries not their own are refugees who never wanted to leave home and ache to go back home. But for the fortunate among us, I think the age of movement brings exhilarating new possibilities. Certainly when I'm traveling, especially to the major cities of the world, the typical person I meet today will be, let's say, a half-Korean, half-German young woman living in Paris. And as soon as she meets a half-Thai, half-Canadian young guy from Edinburgh, she recognizes him as kin. She realizes that she probably has much more in common with him than with anybody entirely of Korea or entirely of Germany. So they become friends. They fall in love. They move to New York City. Or Edinburgh. And the little girl who arises out of their union will of course be not Korean or German or French or Thai or Scotch or Canadian or even American, but a wonderful and constantly evolving mix of all those places. And potentially, everything about the way that young woman dreams about the world, writes about the world, thinks about the world, could be something different, because it comes out of this almost unprecedented blend of cultures. 

Where you come from now is much less important than where you're going. More and more of us are rooted in the future or the present tense as much as in the past. And home, we know, is not just the place where you happen to be born. It's the place where you become yourself.

(...)

(...). But I do think it's only by stopping movement that you can see where to go. And it's only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care about and find a home. Movement is a fantastic privilege, and it allows us to do so much that our grandparents could never have dreamed of doing. But movement, ultimately, only has a meaning if you have a home to go back to. And home, in the end, is of course not just the place where you sleep. It's the place where you stand.»

Pico Iyer

Selected text from the transcription of 
TED Talk: Where is home?

the alchemist... and his truck

Ian Ruther 

the competition...

Time to rethink architecture...

how the architect wants to contribute to society?... For sure this kind of 'star architects' competitions are not the answer... 

Synopsis
*(the red comments reflect only my personal opinion)

An almost uncomfortable but intensely fascinating account of how some of the best architects in the world (I'd rather say the most famous (the architectural star system) what does not absolutely mean the best... Anyway, the best for who and under what parameters and contexts?), design giants like Jean Nouvel or Frank Gehry, toil, struggle and strategize to beat the competition. While nearly as old as the profession itself, architectural competitions became a social, political and cultural phenomenon of the post-Guggenheim Bilbao museums and real estate bubbles of the recent past. Taking place at the dramatic moment in which the bubble became a crisis, this is the first one to be documented, in excruciatingly raw detail. But does the jury have the last word?

Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Dominique Perrault, Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster are selected to participate in the design of the future National Museum of Art of Andorra, a first in the Pyrenees small country. Norman Foster drops out of the competition after a change in the rules that allow the documentary to happen (Anything to hide Sir Foster...?). Three months of design work go into the making of the different proposals, while, behind doors, a power struggle between the different architects and the client has a profound impact on the level of transparency granted by each office to the resident documentary crew, and which has a definite influence in the material shown in the film.

Director’s biography

Angel Borrego Cubero (Spain, 1967). While trained in architecture, with a PhD from ETSA Madrid and a MArch from Princeton University, where he was a Fulbright scholar, Borrego Cubero has been developing an interdisciplinary body of works that deal with issues such as the contemporary urban condition, the negotiations between private and public space, violence, surveillance, fictions in architecture, etc. 

After succeeding in a big international competition, in a process which was akin to a thriller, Angel Borrego Cubero decides to make a documentary of this recurring architectural procedure. During four years, intense work was dedicated to find, document and edit one into film format. “The Competition” is the first movie of this Spanish director and is also the first film documenting the tense developments that characterize architectural contests.

Cast of participant architects:
Frank Gehry
Jean Nouvel
Zaha Hadid
Dominique Perrault
Norman Foster

Team
A production by Office for Strategic Spaces (OSS) www.o-s-s.org
Director and Producer: Angel Borrego Cubero
Technical Director and Editor: Simon Lund
Music: Cesar Bartolomé
Assistants to edition: Gaël Urzáiz, Cristina Hortigüela
Funding and collaborations: Fundación Arte y Derecho, Govern d’Andorra, Lord Culture, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault Architecture, Zaha Hadid Architects, Gehry Partners
Cameras: Gaël Urzáiz, Loreto García, Sara Verd, Simon Lund, Angel Borrego Cubero
Trailer: Angel Borrego Cubero, Simon Lund
Promotion & PR: Simona Rota

Year of completion: 2013
Date of release: 10th of October 2013, World Première at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR)
For press requests contact: pr@o-s-s.org

yo también fui revolucionari@...

La Revolución

por  Slawomir Mrozek

En mi habitación la cama estaba aquí, el armario allá y en medio la mesa.

Hasta que esto me aburrió. Puse entonces la cama allá y el armario aquí.

Durante un tiempo me sentí animado por la novedad. Pero el aburrimiento acabó por volver.

Llegué a la conclusión de que el origen del aburrimiento era la mesa, o mejor dicho, su situación central e inmutable. 

Trasladé la mesa allá y la cama en medio. El resultado fue inconformista.

La novedad volvió a animarme, y mientras duró me conformé con la incomodidad inconformista que había causado. Pues sucedió que no podía dormir con la cara vuelta a la pared, lo que siempre había sido mi posición favorita.

Pero al cabo de cierto tiempo, la novedad dejó de ser tal y no quedó más que la incomodidad. Así que puse la cama aquí y el armario en medio. 

Esta vez el cambio fue radical. Ya que un armario en medio de una habitación es más que inconformista. Es vanguardista.

Pero al cabo de cierto tiempo… Ah, si no fuera por “ese cierto tiempo”. Para ser breve, el armario en medio también dejó de parecerme algo nuevo y extraordinario.

Era necesario llevar a cabo una ruptura, tomar una decisión terminante. Si dentro de unos límites determinados no es posible ningún cambio verdadero, entonces hay que traspasar dichos límites. Cuando el inconformismo no es suficiente, cuando la vanguardia es ineficaz, hay que hacer una revolución. 

Decidí dormir en el armario. Cualquiera que haya intentado dormir en un armario, de pie, sabrá que semejante incomodidad no permite dormir en absoluto, por no hablar de la hinchazón de pies y de los dolores de columna.

Sí, esa era la decisión correcta. Un éxito, una victoria total. Ya que esta vez, “cierto tiempo” también se mostró impotente. Al cabo de cierto tiempo, pues, no sólo no llegué a acostumbrarme al cambio -es decir, el cambio seguía siendo un cambio-, sino que al contrario, cada vez era más consciente de ese cambio, pues el dolor aumentaba a medida que pasaba el tiempo. 

De modo que todo habría ido perfectamente a no ser por mi capacidad de resistencia física, que resultó tener sus límites. Una noche no aguanté más. Salí del armario y me metí en la cama. 

Dormí tres días y tres noches de un tirón. Después puse el armario junto a la pared y la mesa en medio, porque el armario en medio me molestaba. 

Ahora la cama está de nuevo aquí, el armario allá y la mesa en medio. Y cuando me consume el aburrimiento, recuerdo los tiempos en que fui revolucionario...

La Revolución en clave de arquitecto 
por Francesco Colli...

are you sure you want to make it yourself?...

Kevin Champeny has revelaed how to make his acrylic gummy bear Candelier:

if after watch the video you still feel like this is a possible DIS candelier... take a look at the 'ingredients' you'll need...

open source hardware technology...

by Marcin Jakubowski founder of Open Source Ecology

«I realized that the truly appropriate, low-cost tools that I needed to start a sustainable farm and settlement just didn't exist yet. I needed tools that were robust, modular, highly efficient and optimized, low-cost, made from local and recycled materials that would last a lifetime, not designed for obsolescence. I found that I would have to build them myself. So I did just that. And I tested them. And I found that industrial productivity can be achieved on a small scale.

So then I published the 3D designs, schematics, instructional videos and budgets on a wiki.Then contributors from all over the world began showing up, prototyping new machinesduring dedicated project visits. So far, we have prototyped eight of the 50 machines. And now the project is beginning to grow on its own.

We're exploring the limits of what we all can do to make a better world with open hardware technology. »

*(Thanks Efren for sharing it with me...)

conduct us...

ImprovEverywhere's -the New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places since 2001 executing so far over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents- latest mission: they put a Carnegie Hall orchestra in the middle of New York City and placed an empty podium in front of the musicians with a sign that read, “Conduct Us.” Random New Yorkers who accepted the challenge were given the opportunity to conduct this world-class orchestra.

a lifecycle journey...

Rob Lutter: The Lifecycle Adventure

Kickstarter video for a 40,000km ride around the world by bike.
"I’m Rob. A photographer, designer & writer from England. In 2011 I left my home in London to begin a photographic journey & global expedition attempt to cycle around the world. I put the UK film industry behind me to embark on a creative, physical & psychological adventure across 4 world continents & more than 40 countries. My passion is in discovering & creating stories through film, word or photography & my work aims to capture unique cultures & landscapes, to learn from them & share their lives & my own with the world, inspiring others through tales of human endeavor."

Support the Kickstarter: http://kickstarter.com/projects/roblutter/1350766450
Follow the journey: http://thelifecycle.roblutter.com | www.fb.com/roblutter | www.twitter.com/roberlutter

the top...

Francis and the Lights: time for a little bit of music... from the recent past *(... still great video and music!)

«The Top, directed by Jake Schreier and shot on 35mm film with live audio.» JSTN

what is art...?

"In 2012, the Louvre received more visitors than the Vatican and Mecca put together and the global art market reached 64 billion dollars, four times the size of the market for recorded music. But at the peak of its popularity, art still mystifies: visitors to museums and galleries typically spend about two seconds in front of each work of art, and eight seconds reading each artwork’s caption. What are we looking at? What is art? We posed the question to critics, gallery owners, collectors and visitors at the 55th Venice Art Biennale.

Video and interviews by Ries Straver

COLORS Magazine

are you kidding...?

Just in case you have ever wondered it (and assuming it seems quite difficult you(we) will get to see it!) this is how the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, 'based on' Gaudí designs, will look like... It seems they have decided to show the world what the hell will be the final picture of this 'under-construction-forever' building... A double-tribute (analogic and digital) to senseless...(?)

1889

1897

1908

1915

1923

2012

video by Alberto Castaño y Luis Caldevilla

"murmurs"... from a nightly flâneur

Dan Brackenbury wanders around the cities after dark making visible those solitary corners invisible at sunlight... (an other way of flânerie: visualizing a completely new world within the city!).

From his nightly wanderings at Hong Kong he published the book "Murmurs: Photo Essay"...

«In Hong Kong there are several capsule-like villages that sit dotted around the fringes of the city. Some of these belonged to a nomadic community called the Hakka people who migrated to the area several centuries ago. To protect the zones from encroachment, they built large fortified walls around their small towns, closing themselves off from the outside world. Similar segregations and seclusions still exist all over Hong Kong today. For me, the city is a megalopolis of walls and colonies – squares, boxes, cuboids and enclosures. All over are settlements where people exist and get by in blocks upon blocks, windows upon windows of private worlds.

The Hakka people were acquiesced by the local communities but never truly accepted. Instead they remained perpetual wanderers, forever camping in one place. The word Hakka, directly translated from Cantonese, means ‘stranger’ or ‘visitor’. These are words that could easily describe myself.

I lived in Hong Kong for seven months and was always an alien throughout my time there. It soon became clear that I wasn’t the only one: wandering around I would find myself drawn to other aloof citizens and their environments, particularly after dark. During the day the city is a frenetic blur, muddled and confused. However, at night individual habitats are outlined and illuminated. Personal space suddenly grows clear and the solitary corners and quietude within the city become visible.

I’m quite a shy photographer, I don’t like to interrupt things. Instead I stand back with my zoom lens and look in on people’s surroundings from a discreet distance. This allows me to watch life unfold like a film, glimpsing key scenes and plot thresholds. Not dissimilar to a cinemagoer, a spectator in the shadows gazing out at the drama projected magically in front of me. I like this anonymous persona because it suits me. As with many people who live there, I never properly belonged in Hong Kong – but I was quite happy to be a guest and roam quietly with the other drifters. Outsiders all, estranged comrades caught in the dazzle.» Dan Brackenbury