A city’s death by fire. A poem by Derek Walcott

The great fire of London. Image from http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Great_Fire.jpg

 After that hot gospeller has levelled all but the churched sky,

I wrote the tale by tallow of a city's death by fire;

Under a candle's eye, that smoked in tears, I

Wanted to tell, in more than wax, of faiths that were snapped like wire.

All day I walked abroad among the rubbled tales,

Shocked at each wall that stood on the street like a liar;

Loud was the bird-rocked sky, and all the clouds were bales

Torn open by looting, and white, in spite of the fire.

By the smoking sea, where Christ walked, I asked, why

Should a man wax tears, when his wooden world fails?

In town, leaves were paper, but the hills were a flock of faiths;

To a boy who walked all day, each leaf was a green breath

Rebuilding a love I thought was dead as nails,

Blessing the death and the baptism by fire.

From http://www.poemhunter.com/

Coop Himmelblau in Downtown Los Angeles

I’m happy that I’ve found an article at Arcspace.com about the High School #9 in Los Angeles, California. First of all, every time I saw its round windows in the gray boring walls, I was wondering who’d be the architects that add more gray to the city (it has enough of it). I never related the tower to this building and I was also concerned about the meaning of it. This is what arcspace.com says:

“High School #9, LAUSD’s new flagship high school project with emphasis in the Visual and Performing Arts, is in direct vicinity of the downtown Los Angeles cultural corridor with Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The school campus will include four academies for education in music, dance, theater arts and visual arts, and a theater for 1,000 visitors which can be open to the public.

The tower, a unique and highly visible sculptural landmark, will provide a point of identification for the students, a symbol for the arts in the city and a sign for the positive development of the arts, education and our society. The tower also relates to the immediate context of downtown Los Angeles and the other cultural institutions within.

A spiral in form of a #9 which revolves around the tower completes the sculpture and is an expression of the dynamic development of our society.”

Now, being an architect myself, and with experience in “reading” buildings and their meanings, I could never have imagined such a symbol for the “dynamic development of our society”. This is not that I don’t understand the spiral, the problem is that the picture published at arcspace.com is aerial, and you can see it as in a model. But, when you are at speed in the freeway, the only thing you see is the tower that looks like a building. That’s the problem, you don’t understand if it is an empty silly building good for nothing or a huge sculpture dedicated to nothing. I took a picture myself, inside the car, and I promise to look for it, or take another one.

Maybe some architects forget that real buildings are not to be seen as massive models, unless you are inside an airplane instead of a car, with the view blocked by the freeway walls and trees. From this point of view, the tower is absolutely out of context.

Tatlin had this idea of the spiral conforming the tower. This is a great sculpture, I highly prefer this one, because the tower is in itself a spiral and doesn´t need ramps to express the idea. No extra elements needed! Image from http://www.ac-grenoble.fr/college/

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/coop_himmelblau/no_9/no_9.html

*All pictures have been downloaded from arcspace.com

Ayuda internacional para sacar de los escombros el arte de Haití

Parte del mural La Ultima Cena. Imagen de revista Eñe, Clarín.

Por: Kate Taylor para The New York Times y Clarín. 27 de mayo de 2010

Susan Blakney, una conservadora de pinturas de Nueva York, se abrió paso entre una pila de escombros producto del derrumbe de la catedral episcopal Santa Trinidad en busca de fragmentos de los murales de la catedral. 

La iglesia forma parte del patrimonio cultural de este país, y la mayor parte de sus murales quedó destruida como consecuencia del terremoto de enero. Dos del ala norte, sin embargo, que representan La última cena y el bautismo de Cristo respectivamente, permanecen casi intactos. "Parece que hay algunas partes aquí abajo", gritó Blakney, que tiene sesenta y dos años, a los colegas que trabajaban con ella a principios de este mes con el objeto de salvar miles de obras de arte del caos que ocasionó el terremoto. 

La organización del rescate está a cargo del Smithsonian Institute, que en junio abrirá en la capital haitiana un centro donde conservadores estadounidenses trabajarán con personal local en la restauración de pinturas dañadas, esculturas rotas y otras obras que se encontraron entre los escombros de museos e iglesias. 

Artistas y profesionales de la cultura de Haití realizan operaciones informales de rescate desde hace cuatro meses. Pero los estadounidenses aportan profesionalismo en el campo de la conservación prácticamente no hay conservadores de arte profesionales en Haití  y también equipo especial, adquirido en gran parte con fondos privados. 

La iniciativa, que se caracteriza por su rapidez, la estrecha colaboración con un gobierno extranjero y una combinación de financiamiento estatal y privado, representa un nuevo modelo de diplomacia cultural de Estados Unidos, algo que los organizadores consideran un fuerte contraste con la apatía de la que se acusó a los estadounidenses ante el saqueo de los tesoros artísticos iraquíes en 2003. 

"Se cometieron errores en el pasado, en momentos de gran tragedia o conmoción, al no proteger ni priorizar el patrimonio cultural de un país", dijo Rachel Goslins, la directora ejecutiva de la Comisión de Artes y Humanidades de la presidencia, que participa en la recaudación de fondos para el proyecto. 

"Es una oportunidad para decir que aprendimos la lección." El financiamiento inicial procede de tres organismos federales y de la Broadway League, que agrupa a productores y propietarios de teatros. Funcionarios del Smithsonian señalan que el proyecto costará entre US$ 2 y 3 millones y durará unos 18 meses. Luego, el centro serán transferido al gobierno haitiano. 

Blakney viajó a Port-au-Prince con otros dos conservadores, un curador de museos y un grupo de ingenieros y especialistas en planificación del Smithsonian. Su tarea era evaluar qué tipo de daños habían sufrido las obras de arte. En base a esa información van a decidir qué equipamiento necesitarán, ya sea ellos o aquéllos a quienes el Smithsonian envíe a trabajar en el centro. Los conservadores estadounidenses dedicarán parte de su tiempo a formar conservadores haitianos como preparación para el momento en que se les transfiera el laboratorio. 

La operación de rescate nació en buena medida gracias a los esfuerzos de Corine Wegener, curadora del Instituto de Arte de Minneapolis y mayor retirada del ejército que prestó servicio en Irak poco después del saqueo del Museo Nacional Iraquí, y de Richard Kurin, el subsecretario de Historia, Arte y Cultura del Smithsonian. 

Wegener, que también viajó a Haití este mes, dijo que le parecía aterrador lo que había pasado en el Museo Nacional Iraquí, donde había trabajado como enlace entre el personal y los funcionarios estadounidenses. 

"Como profesional de museo, me resultó terrible comprobar que el personal se encontraba en un estado de conmoción", dijo. "¿Cómo me sentiría si un día llegara a trabajar y descubriera que se llevaron quince mil objetos?" Decidió no permitir que la historia se repitiera en Haití, afirmó. Algunos de los profesionales de la cultura y funcionarios haitianos con los que se reunió el grupo escuchaban hablar por primera vez del proyecto de centro de conservación, y respondieron con alivio y entusiasmo. La ayuda estadounidense es "fundamental para nosotros", dijo Patrick Vilaire, un escultor que fue pionero en el rescate de las colecciones de varias bibliotecas después del terremoto. 

Algunos, sin embargo, expresaron su frustración por el hecho de que no hubiera llegado ayuda antes, así como su preocupación respecto de que los especialistas extranjeros trabajaran más en la guía de visitas y en evaluaciones que en brindar ayuda real y concreta. 

En una reunión con Daniel Elie, que dirige el organismo del gobierno a cargo de la preservación del patrimonio nacional de Haití, se vivió un momento de tensión cuando su colega y traductora, Monique Rocourt, dijo que estaba harta de recibir a asesores extranjeros que llegaban y no hacían nada. 

"Si llevo otro grupo de especialistas a Jacmel", señaló, haciendo referencia a una ciudad que sufrió grandes daños como consecuencia del terremoto, "la población va a pensar que nos limitamos a traer extranjeros para que vean el desastre. Es cínico, pero eso es lo que va a pensar la gente."

Call for papers. From Aristotle to Skateboarders: Roles of Hermeneutics in Architecture

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s 99th Annual Meeting will be held in Montreal on March 3-6, 2011. I would like to invite members of this listserv to participate in a paper session titled “From Aristotle to Skateboarders: Roles of Hermeneutics in Architecture.” The submission deadline for completed papers is September 15, 2010. Please go to the following website for further detail:

https://www.acsa-arch.org/conferences/annual2011.aspx

Architectural students, educators, and professionals are all enthused about the recent developments and opportunities afforded by the needs for sustainable design. The cloud of self-doubt seems to have lifted, which has been with the profession ever since Modernism failed to fulfill the promise of a better, richer, and fuller life. After Postmodernism led us to focus on the banality of everyday life and consumerism, and Deconstructionists made us find it futile even to talk about the meanings of built objects, we seemed to be left with little to praise architecture for, other than as a spectacle merely on the basis of the novelty and visual effect. With a clear sense of purpose to fulfill environmental consciousness, the profession seems finally to have revived the raison d'être. Behind this enthusiasm, however, is a danger associated with positivistic clarity. The achievements are easily understood with sustainable design because the conservation of resources, the generation of energy, and the reduction of pollution are all positively measurable. There is nothing wrong in pursuing these goals, and saving the earth in particular is an urgent task. The problem does exist, however, when we limit our pursuits only to those goals we see are attainable and to those whose degree of attainment is clearly measurable. Architecture should contribute to our understanding of the world and the self, even though this is difficult to measure. In order to take architectural discourse beyond the limitations of Postmodernism and Deconstruction, hermeneutics, as a body of knowledge and methodology for dealing with the principles of human understanding, can assist in exploring a participatory interpretation of architecture as a means for understanding the world and oneself. Here “participatory” is to be distinguished from the type of interpretations that attempt to discover the meanings intended by the author. Instead, participatory interpretations suggest architecture’s potential of assisting the viewers and inhabitants with their understanding of the world and the place of the self within that world. While David Leatherbarrow’s recent work lays out intellectual foundation, there still is much to be explored in this area. This session is not intended to demonstrate changes of meaning over time, nor to argue for a text’s contradictory meanings. Instead, this session encourages papers and presentations that illuminate the specific nature of architecture which promotes participatory interpretation, with “the specific nature” possibly being about materials, light, orientation, or procession. Authors are encouraged to draw from diverse thinkers from Aristotle to Martin Heidegger and Paul Ricoeur, even to the recent study on skateboarders by Iain Borden. A hermeneutic of participatory interpretation will look at architecture as a way of contemplating one’s place through architecture. Where Do You Stand?

The Deluge in Archaic Sumerian Cities

The walls of Uruk. Built by Gilgamesh.Among the chief of Semitic king Sargon´s exploits, was the destruction of the strong walls of Uruk. Image from www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/

Zigurat of Uruk. Image from http://lexicorient.com/

The Sumerians were the first literate inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and theirs is the language of the oldest tablets from Nippur which relate to Gilgamesh, the epic hero king. They had already irrigated the country and filled it with their cities, before it was conquered by Semitic tribes in the course of the third millennium BC.

Excavation has shown that the Archaic Sumerian or Early Dynastic civilization of the early third millennium follows notable flood levels at several important cities: Shurrupak, Kish, and Uruk among them. These levels close the last prehistoric period, the Jemdet Nasr Period of the archaeologists, and may mark the catastrophe described in the Sumerian story of the flood, the hero of which lived at Shurrupak. This however was not the only disaster, and Sir Leonard Woolley, in his excavations at Ur, found evidence of a much earlier flood, which may have devastated part of the country at a time before even the most primitive picture-writing had been evolved. In the Sumerian texts  the name of five cities are given which were  established before the Deluge, and to them ¨Kingship was let down from Heaven¨. After the catastrophe, according to the texts, Kingship once more descended; and the city-states which then arose were often at war with each other. In the King-list, Gilgamesh is named as fifth ruler of the first post-diluvian dynasty of Uruk.

There has been much controversy on the question of the relationship between the Genesis flood and that of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian writers. The opinion, at one time widely held that the Genesis account was a late refinement on a story once current in all the cities of Babylonia, is not now so general; while the view that it derives directly from a very old and independent history has many supporters. The decipherment of fresh texts may throw more light on the whole question. The Genesis account is probably best seen against a background of many very anciente flood stories, possibly but not necessarily relating to the same disaster.

From The Epic of Gilgamesh. English version by N.K. Sandars. The Penguin Classics. Great Britain. 1962

Gilgamesh. Image from http://thisfragiletent.files.wordpress.com/

The London Festival of Architecture 19 June-4 July 2010

The Festival in 2010 will be a city-wide celebration of architecture in the capital. As London gears up for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games we look at ways that planners, architects and local communities play their part in the development of 'The Welcoming City'. Everyone is invited to join the Festival community, to develop projects to take part in debates; to investigate ways that London can be made a better place to live, work and play; to explore the city through guided walks and bike rides and to examine change in the capital in a celebratory way.
A wide range of independent events will surround a number of core activities - some focused on high profile weekend events - others taking place throughout the Festival period.
http://www.lfa2010.org/about.php

THE FOURTH WORLD UNIVERSITIES FORUM

Hong Kong Institute of Education      
Hong Kong      
14-16 January 2011      
http://www.UniversitiesForum.com
The World Universities Forum brings together those with a common concern for the role and future of the university in a changing world.
Never before in their long history have universities faced as many challenges as they do today. We live in times of enormous economic, political and cultural transformation, demanding at times that the very idea of university to be re-imagined. Citizenries and stakeholders now question the relevance and effectiveness of the University in ways they have never done before. In such a context, universities do not only need to re-think and re-frame their purposes and governance, but also communicate effectively with the communities that support them. They also need to take a manifestly pivotal role in addressing the key challenges and opportunities of our times: globalization, environmental sustainability, economic development, social inclusion, and human security. 
The World Universities Forum is a forum for the discussion of an agenda that explores the key challenges of our times, challenges that will shape the future role of the University. We have published the draft agenda emerging from our 2010 conference athttp://ontheuniversity.com/ideas/action-agenda/ - please join us at the next conference as we take this discussion a step forward.
The World Universities Forum is held annually in different locations around the world. The Forum was held in Davos, Switzerland in 2008 and 2010; and in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Mumbai, India in 2009. In 2010, it will be hosted by the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
In addition to this impressive lineup of plenary speakers, parallel paper, workshop and colloquium presentations will be made by researchers and administrators from a wide range of fields, institutions and geographical locations. Participants are invited to submit a presentation proposal for a 30-minute paper, 60-minute workshop, or a jointly presented 90-minute colloquium session.
Presenters may also choose to submit their written papers for publication in the peer-refereed Journal of the World Universities Forum. Those who are unable to attend the conference in person are welcome to submit a virtual registration, which allows for submission of a paper for refereeing and possible publication in the journal, as well as an option to upload a video presentation to the conference YouTube channel.
We also invite you to subscribe to our free, monthly email newsletter, and subscribe to our Facebook, RSS or Twitter feeds at http://ontheuniversity.com .
The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 10 June 2010. Future deadlines will be announced on the conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the conference can be found at http://www.UniversitiesForum.com .

EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE HUMANITIES

University of California, Los Angeles, USA      
29 June - 2 July 2010      
http://www.HumanitiesConference.com
The Humanities Conference provides a space for dialogue and for the publication of new knowledge that builds on the past traditions of the humanities whilst setting a renewed agenda for their future.
This year's conference will feature the following plenary speakers:      
* Joyce Appleby, University of California, Los Angeles, USA    
* Douglas Kellner, University of California, Los Angeles, USA      
* Jodie Parys, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, USA      
* David G. Stork, Stanford University, Stanford, USA      
* Edward A. Tiryakian, Duke University, Durham, USA      
* Tricia Wang, University of California, San Diego, USA      
In addition to plenary presentations, the Humanities Conference includes parallel presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We invite you to respond to the conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters submit their written papers for publication in the refereed 'International Journal of the Humanities'. If you are unable to attend the conference in person, virtual registrations are also available, which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in the journal.
Whether you are a virtual or in-person presenter at this conference, we also encourage you to present on the conference YouTube Channel. Please select the Online Sessions link on the conference website for further details.
The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 10 June 2010. Future deadlines will be announced on the conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the conference, including an online proposal submission form, are to be found at the conference website -http://www.HumanitiesConference.com/.
We also invite you to subscribe to our free, monthly email newsletter, and to our Facebook, RSS or Twitter feeds at http://thehumanities.com/.
We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Los Angeles in June.