WHEN: Wednesday 27th January 2016 from 6-8pm
WHERE : Room 421 Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street. London WC1E 7HX
TOPIC: What if the city were an ocean and its
buildings ships? Of surface, ground and the interstitiality of things.
KEYWORDS: Anthropology- Cartography- Architecture- Geography- Environmental Studies
SPEAKERS: Tim Ingold Discussant Jonathan Hale
Tim Ingold writes :
My title was inspired by a recent exhibition of
work by artist David Lemm at Edinburgh Printmakers, on the theme of wayfinding
and mark-making in the city. Lemm had superimposed schematic icons pointing to
details of buildings (e.g., railings, lintels, steps), that could be seen from
different locations, on old nautical charts. The exhibition led me to reflect
upon how we think of buildings in relation to the ground of the city, as
superstructure on infrastructure, placed upon the ground rather that sunk in
its depths. Indeed it led me to reflect upon the ground itself, for on David’s
charts, the parts of buildings not only appeared disconnected from one another.
They also seemed to float like bric-a-brac upon the surface of the ocean. What
if the ground of the city were like the ocean? Is it at ground level that the
city has to contend with the forces of disintegration, or is it rather above
and beneath? For the mariner, the ship is a point of stillness in a turbulent
world of sea and sky, and his attention is directed not to the surface but to
currents below and winds above. How might we think of buildings and of the city
differently, if we were to imagine the ground, likewise, to heave with the
swell of the elements, and of buildings to converse with the earth and with the
sky? And what if our city maps were more like nautical charts, indicating
depths and cardinal directions rather than surface features and their layout?
Tim
Ingold is
Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. He has carried out
fieldwork among Saami and Finnish people in Lapland, and has written on
environment, technology and social organisation in the circumpolar North, on
animals in human society, and on human ecology and evolutionary theory. His
more recent work explores environmental perception and skilled practice.
Ingold’s current interests lie on the interface between anthropology,
archaeology, art and architecture. His recent books include The Perception of the Environment
(2000), Lines (2007), Being Alive (2011), Making (2013) and The Life of
Lines (2015).
Jonathan Hale is an architect, Associate Professor
& Reader in Architectural Theory at the University of Nottingham, where he
is Head of the Architecture, Culture and Tectonics research group (ACT). His research interests include: architectural theory and criticism; phenomenology
and the philosophy of technology; the relationship between architecture and the
body; museums and architectural exhibitions. He has just completed a book for the Routledge series Thinkers for
Architects on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Tickets £10 and £5 concessions Book online through EVENTBRITE:
http://bit.ly/timingold2016
Download PDF of Tim Ingold flyer:
http://bit.ly/timingold-flyer
Details on LIVINGMAPS website:
http://bit.ly/timingold-webpage
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