Space Black’s Post

My book: The Machinic City, Media Performance and Participation is now available at a (much) more affordable price (£20) in paperback format from the MUP website (https://lnkd.in/eUn6aQdN). Use the special promotion code EVENT30 at checkout (limited offer) and get an extra 30% off! Total price with code (not including shipping): £14 The book analyses the role of performance art in urban space towards reflecting on contemporary and future urban life with case studies on the work of renowned artists Blast Theory, Rimini Protokoll, Rafael Lozano Hemmer, Dante or Die and Liam Young. Please recommend to your institution for purchase. Reviews by Steve Dixon and Joanne Scott: 'Dias' inspiring study makes clear that cities and machines are not always smart. His fascinating case studies show how performance art is perfectly placed to reveal the unpredictable, uncanny, powerful, playful and dysfunctional aspects of both. Drawing on perspectives ranging from philosophy and machine aesthetics to posthumanism and urban studies, Dias shines new light on our contemporary experience of "the machinic city" in bold and remarkable ways.' Steve Dixon, Professor at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, and author of Cybernetic-Existentialism and Digital Performance 'The Machinic City is, by its nature, a wide ranging study, bringing together diverse areas of thought and practice, but it is held together with and orbits around the central case study, which activates much of the key thinking and insight related to the notion of the machinic city. It is here, in the fresh and insightful analysis and account of A Machine to See With, that the concepts informing the study really sing and where they are put to work most effectively to offer us new understandings of how this particular mode of performance - positioned in and interacting with public city spaces through participation using computational mobile devices and technologies - actually functions, breaks down and emerges as something new and unexpected. This makes the book a worthwhile read for anyone interested in those types of performance, the work of Blast Theory more generally, as well as in seeing an example of how Latour's ANT can be incisively applied to performance in urban spaces. It will appeal to theorists and practitioners of performance with computational digital technologies and those who create participatory performance work in public, city spaces. It is also a great text to share with students who might be trying out these types of making, revealing how all elements of a performance in public space can become constitutive (and disruptive) of the intended dramaturgy.' Joanne Scott, University of Salford, International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media

Design History Society Annual Conference 2024 University for the Creative Arts 5 – 7 September 2024 Call for Papers Borders are an ever more pressing issue in the 2020s. Whether geopolitical, human and non-human, or digital and physical, the solidification and liquification of borders raises questions around design's role in creating, undoing and negotiating divides. The significance of borders today is highlighted by the interlaced ramifications of Brexit, Covid-19, international conflict, the climate emergency, the dissolution of colonial borders, gender binaries and the rise of polarising social media platforms. In this context it seems timely for design history to debate the implications of borders past, present and future. The 2024 Design History Society (DHS) conference will invite explorations of design’s role in borders and the effect of borders on design and asks how looking at borders and boundaries can help further design history more widely. Submissions are due Thursday 29th February 2024. https://lnkd.in/e8HFAhpW

Imagining the Solarpunk University Collegues and current students at the UEA might be interesting in these upcoming workshops that I have co-organised that are intended to explore what a Solarpunk university might look, function and feel like. Solarpunk is a literary genre, design philosophy and aesthetic movement that is focused on producing positive visions of the future. The purpose of these workshops is to introduce solarpunk to a wider audience as well as imagine how solarpunk principles might be applied to the UEA.  The first session, An introduction to solarpunk (Weds 7th February, NEWSCI 0.01, 1pm) will focus on explaining and exploring what Solarpunk is, unpacking the background, principles and contradictions of the approach.     The second session (Tuesday 13th February, ZICER 0.02, 1pm) is entitled UEA – Lessons from a speculative Post-War Utopia. It will explore what we can learn from history when we are trying to imagine its future. Jon Wright is an architectural historian and conservationist who has been instrumental in the recent work to maintain and develop the UEA campus. Solarpunk is often utopian, just as the UEA was designed to be, and it is important to understand how these visions can interact with the real world.      The third and final session The Solarpunk University (Weds 28th February, Enterprise Centre, 1.06 1pm) will be a creative session during which we will produce a range of visions of how a solarpunk university will look, feel and operate. We hope that there might be enough of these visions to produce some kind of exhibition or publication later in the year.  

https://lnkd.in/eA8pyFCJ I feel very honoured to be part of this conference with the paper presentation called "Anticipation" about performance, art and design #UK

Interesting surprise call for papers for badly needed innovation in architectural education! Please submit your ideas or share, thanks very much! The Queer Educators in Architecture Network (QuEAN) is calling for educators and students to explore the blurry line between surprise and survival, the potential of surprise in pedagogy to open up discussions about unexplored aspects and queer potentials of the discipline. QuEAN is an emerging constellation of queer spatial design educators connecting across the globe with the common goal of transforming our universities and schools from within, considering queerness as an opportunity to question and dismantle the hierarchies embedded in spatial pedagogies, reflect upon power structures and address the uneven accessibilities of spatial disciplines and their institutions. https://lnkd.in/eT65yu4a

One to watch - A Sit down at Centre Pompidou Against the inspiring backdrop of the exhibition The Childhood of Design: A Century of Furniture for Children, which includes our very own Tripp Trapp®, I had the pleasure of joining a discussion exploring the role of children’s furniture design in fostering confidence. I was in the good company of Marie-Ange Brayer, co-curator of the exhibition and head of the Design and Industrial Prospective Department at Centre Pompidou, as well as Gregoire Borst Professor of Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Education at the University of Paris. Marijke A. Coopmans, moderated the talk. We covered a range of themes such as: 💡 The changing status of children in society and the dynamic evolution of children's furniture, with the 1960s and the advent of pop art being highlighted as pivotal in its development by Marie-Ange. 💡 The role of developmental psychologists and the symbiotic relationship between learning and play in design, explored by Grégoire. The ability of children to naturally turn everyday objects into playthings and the call for design which meets functional needs while inspiring imagination and creativity. 💡 The growing recognition that children's intelligence is far more complex than commonly believed, with Grégoire emphasizing the need to create environments that support their development in more meaningful ways. 💡 The future of children's furniture design becoming more sustainable and inclusive, driven by consumer demand and design innovation. All in all, the importance of children's furniture design on their development is undeniable. And I am proud, that we as Stokke, have a role to play in its this design evolution, crafting furniture that grows with the child and fosters connection, setting them of for the best start in life. To learn more, watch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/d_ZzbchU - or have a read through the article exploring these ideas in greater depth: https://lnkd.in/d7rBQh3F #Stokke #Herewegrow #design #childrensdesign

Call for Applications National School of Art of Paris (ENDA) Session XXIV, 2024-2025 ENDA is the first research school in the arts. Its program offers you the opportunity to free yourself from the conventions inherited from 20th-century art and to highlight some of the challenges in 21st-century art, a history where you are invited to imagine your own place. ENDA has its own pedagogical standards, methodologies, and tools, the level of which does not exist in higher art education in the World. ENDA allows you to: - Formulate a singular practice, free from art standards; - Develop an economic model tailored to the specificity of your practice, ensuring your financial independence; - Apply the skills acquired to all aspects of your life, both professional and personal; - Become adaptable to ensure the continuity of your life and work in any context, even in periods of environmental hostility; - Imagine various paths to reinvent or transform yourself through art; - Reconcile your professional life with your personal life; - Create your own ecosystem of fulfillment to avoid being subjected to the dominant art world; - Develop a critical and self-critical mindset, and the ability to act and think independently; - Experiment the subversive practice. One of ENDA’s distinctive features is considering the ecosystem of art practice as a part to the practice itself. Alongside your artistic practice, you develop its economic model, ecological dimension, collaborative, political, multimodal, inclusive aspects, terminology, dissemination, strategy, and, if necessary, specific organization form. Another specificity is working in collective intelligence. The program can be pursued in parallel with other studies or activities. It leads to the awarding of the DNREA (National Diploma of Research and Experimentation in Arts). The theoretical and practical modules take place on Thursdays and Fridays in various locations: museums, metro stations, art galleries, embassies, associations, basements, apartments... The working languages are French and English. Admission is open to everyone, regardless of your profession, degree, or age. Motivation is the central criterion for admission. Submit your application: https://lnkd.in/ePSYHZZb Application Deadline: June 30, 2024

I am very excited and honoured to be invited by Dr Yashaen Lucken from Lincoln University, UK to speak at the ‘Unsettling Paradigms - the Decolonial Turn in the Humanities Curriculum in South Africa’ conference next Tuesday at 9am SAST. Rather than speak on design studio pedagogy, I have opted to discuss colonisation's (possible) residual impact on architecture education and argue its ubiquitous impact had already been subsumed as a comforting dominant paradigm. I reckon that such design approaches and biases of our ex-western colonial masters’ descendants are inert contributors to how we view and embark on our design process. Much looking forward to having a discussion with researchers, educators and design practitioners from South Africa! With Mark Olweny. Edit: here's the abstract - Architecture education/pedagogy’s fascination with spectacle has arguably resulted in a generation focused on formal qualities, often at the expense of critical content. This trend is evident in the widespread emulation of 'Western starchitects', whose successful design approaches and signature styles are often replicated as identifiable brands through precedents and case studies in the design studios as 'knowledge consumption'. Such practices have fostered perceptions of supremacy and competence that may not have always been contextualised appropriately. To decolonise architecture (pedagogy), we must design with relevance and appropriateness in mind. The contemporary tendency to 'jazz up' design schemes with dynamic forms and 'Archi-poetry' detracts from critical design thinking essential in our increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Therefore, our obsession with stylistic forms must be challenged. These arguments will be supported through a case study of an award-winning project. Romanticising the vernacular as stylistic formal appropriation has often overshadowed important aspects like content and function, leading to detrimental outcomes. #TwoConferencesInOneDay #Tropics #TropicalDream #Vernacular #ArchitectureEducation

Call for Applications National School of Art of Paris (ENDA) Session XXIV, 2024-2025 ENDA is the first research school in the arts. Its program offers you the opportunity to free yourself from the conventions inherited from 20th-century art and to highlight some of the challenges in 21st-century art, a history where you are invited to imagine your own place. ENDA has its own pedagogical standards, methodologies, and tools, the level of which does not exist in higher art education in the World. ENDA allows you to: - Formulate a singular practice, free from art standards; - Develop an economic model tailored to the specificity of your practice, ensuring your financial independence; - Apply the skills acquired to all aspects of your life, both professional and personal; - Become adaptable to ensure the continuity of your life and work in any context, even in periods of environmental hostility; - Imagine various paths to reinvent or transform yourself through art; - Reconcile your professional life with your personal life; - Create your own ecosystem of fulfillment to avoid being subjected to the dominant art world; - Develop a critical and self-critical mindset, and the ability to act and think independently; - Experiment the subversive practice. One of ENDA’s distinctive features is considering the ecosystem of art practice as a part to the practice itself. Alongside your artistic practice, you develop its economic model, ecological dimension, collaborative, political, multimodal, inclusive aspects, terminology, dissemination, strategy, and, if necessary, specific organization form. Another specificity is working in collective intelligence. The program can be pursued in parallel with other studies or activities. It leads to the awarding of the DNREA (National Diploma of Research and Experimentation in Arts). The theoretical and practical modules take place on Thursdays and Fridays in various locations: museums, metro stations, art galleries, embassies, associations, basements, apartments... The working languages are French and English. Admission is open to everyone, regardless of your profession, degree, or age. Motivation is the central criterion for admission. Submit your application: https://lnkd.in/eJEpyFHx Application Deadline: June 30, 2024

I'm thrilled to announce the completion of a fascinating project, the Bentley Eastern-Western Aesthetics Database (BEWAD) http://bewad.bentley.edu BEWAD is a meticulously curated collection of numerous paintings from different parts of the globe which serves as a vital resource for exploring various domains such as art perception, neuroaesthetics, empirical aesthetics and provides a robust foundation for studying the intricacies of artistic appreciation across cultures. The project was featured in a presentation at the Psychonomic Society Meeting, in Nov. 2023 at San Francisco. Publications: Ziat, M., Li Z., Huang, K.-Y., Ordaz, J., Yeh, M., Jadaun, B. P. S., Chow, C., Carbon, C.-C. (2023). The Bentley Eastern-Western Aesthetics Database for Experimental Aesthetics. Psychonomic Society Meeting, Nov. 2023, San Francisco Explore BEWAD: http://bewad.bentley.edu This project not only built my proficiency in R, Python, and web development but also honed my expertise in analytics and business intelligence. If you're interested in delving deeper into the nuances of art perception or seeking insights into experimental aesthetics, BEWAD is an invaluable resource. #DataAnalytics #Python #RProgramming #WebDevelopment #ArtPerception #ExperimentalAesthetics #JobSeekers