Date: 29 August 2023
Time: 18:30 – 20:00
The patterns of transformation are not identical but rather zigzagging and diverse. Across traditions, cultures, and disciplines, cross-pollinated spatial practices and expressions of space emerge as signs of resistance, hope, and compassion.
In this talk, we will look at the cross-pollinated spatial practice of “ma”. It emerged from an intercultural exchange between European, North American, and Japanese architectural discourses. This spatial habitus inspires us to address the transformational capacity of architectural space through a focus on movement and performativity. Performative interventions such as zigzagging pathways and somersaulting horizons are introduced as a way to confront, quite literally, the dizzying confrontation with the cosmos and to reorient architectural habit(at)s anew.
In our collective conversation, we will more generally explore alternative visions and varied rhythms to challenge existing ideologies. Together, we question how to remember and how to forget: Which spatial practices need to be shared, and how can we make room for unheard stories? How can ‘ma’ inspire our own work, and how do our bodies become involved in our practices? Because these questions concern everybody, participation by tutors, (visiting) lecturer-practitioners, and GSA staff members is encouraged.
Renske Maria van Dam is an architect, artist and academic whose work exploits tiny perceptions to open alternative worlds of experience and action. She calls for a fundamental shift in how we conceive and construct the built environment, from an architecture of objects to an architecture of reciprocity. With bio topological craftsmanship, a craftsmanship not of wood but of social and ecological relationships, she promotes an empathic-animistic and affirmative approach to architectural practice, research and pedagogy.