space, body, time, numbers

Jean luc Godard
LE MEPRIS
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Jean Luc GODARD
ALPHAVILLE
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Darren ARONOFSKY
PI
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network neutrality

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map
n.

1. 1. A representation, usually on a plane surface, of a region of the earth or heavens.
   2. Something that suggests such a representation, as in clarity of representation.
   
   
2. Mathematics. The correspondence of one or more elements in one set to one or more elements in the same set or another set.
3. Slang. The human face.
4. Genetics. A genetic map.

v. tr. mapped, map·ping, maps.

1. 1. To make a map of.
   2. To depict as if on a map: Grief was mapped on his face.
   
   
2. To explore or make a survey of (a region) for the purpose of making a map.
3. To plan or delineate, especially in detail; arrange: mapping out her future.
4. Genetics. To locate (a gene or DNA sequence) in a specific region of a chromosome in relation to known genes or DNA sequences.
5. Mathematics. To establish a mapping of (an element or a set).

source: American Heritage Dictionary

Last Saturday, February 17, we could experience the celebrations of the Chinese New-Year - The pig year. Chinatown, Den Haag has the centre of the festivity, with the speeches, drums, the Dragon and Lion dances, and noisy and smelly fireworks. Later, on the city hall the festivity continued with martial arts and other performances.

Clearly this wasn't a regular day in Chinatown Den Haag. Nevertheless this celebration spirit doesn't fade the fact that the majority of the people with Chinese roots came from outside the neighbourhood. Reinforced security, casino supported dancers, non-Chinese leading people... By paying attention to a few details it's easily readable the marketing behind this event, and the lack of the spontaneity that should be in the origin of the celebrations. On the windows, it was clear that this is no long a pure Chinese quarter...

Push the images to see them in context:

The “choreographing space” workshop was a unique experience. It wasn’t a dance workshop as preconceived, but a kind of “body awareness” exercise.

From the first year of my education as a architecture student that I has confronted with the importance off the human body as the subject of space, and modulator of scales and relations. This emphasis on the relation whit the outside takes away the awareness of our own body, and the systems that makes it a whole.

The relation with the other humans is always seen as subject off social regulation, always keeping an “acceptable distance”. This workshop brook that preconceived concept allowing us to explore the social relation on its basic state, when the search for the equilibrium emerged as the unreflected main collective goal.

Architecture is first and foremost an experience. Arhitecture is first and foremost about life, human life.
These two lines formed the closing act of my last essay on architecture. Architecture, cities and society. Strangely enough, the same subject that was delt with by the Biennale de Veneza. In that writing I concluded that architecture has lacked the humanity to understand its most valuable asset - the experience it provides. It is in this experience that it is defined. Or so I assumed at the time. That notion was however reinforced the past few weeks through a series of lectures that culminated in an earth shattering experience with a workshop entitled Coreographing Space.

As those who know me might imagine, I was all but eager to take part in this. The mere sight of it in the schedule led me to think of illnesses which could explain my absence. However, that was all shattered to pieces as I walked into the space defined by tape on the 9th floor of Bouwkunde. A completely strange and overwhelming experience took part. To an extent, I discovered much of what attracted me some two years ago to Tai Chi. But this was much wider. This took us in different directions, I presume that it was so that we could learn the multiplicity of our body's possibilities. Through the awareness of our body we began to be aware of what surrounded us and its solid state. It was no longer thin air but rather concrete designed and constructed through our movements. I won't elaborate on the workshop, because I don't believe it to be a life altering experience. It is not and should not be a moment in one's lifetime. Rather it should be something one looked for everyday, or every so often, so that one never forgets its place in the body that contains him/her. One tends to forget that it is that same body that makes it all possible.

To a certain extent this served to open our horizons on more than physical limitations. Through the notion that not all was air and not all was certain, as was movement, minds began opening up to the possibilities of urban tissues, through the meanderings that shape them. The fantastic four finally started a discussion that ended in an unclear notion of object and subject but fueled the way to some fun out on the town.

Dear urban, I have to say, being out there was exciting, unexpectedly so. And the fantastic four rose to the challenge. Ideas have flown, video tapes have been wasted, cards were filled with pictures and the first talks were held. Work in progress now! They're not making it easy on us, but then again, the thrill of the experience is on the trip, not on the destiny. Architecture is no longer a mere design experience of lines, volumes, and 'spaces' but rather an understanding of the links, the relations, and a quest for the spaces they shape. A quest...

subject - policeman / object - poster

World Press Photo of the Year 2006, by Spencer Platt

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Royksopp - Remind Me