Marc Quinn - The littoral zone - Baby by pfer on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Musée océanique de Monaco

John McMorrough, ‘Undead: Ru(m)inations: the haunts of contemporary architecture’ in M.Guberman, J.Reidel, and F.Rosenberg. Monster: Perspecta 40. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008. | #kamworkshops2011

Once a discipline is defined to in relation to preservation rather than a its performative attributes, it is a constrain rather than opportunity. While at one point such preservations were a necessity, they have now outlived their initial use. At this point the disciplinary conception of architecture concretizes the formats of practice as a rite: what was once the saving grace is now the problem it self. The impulse that originated as a mechanism of preservation has now being transposed into meaning -the defense mechanisms of architecture have become its content; the fort became the prison. 

#kamworkshops2011: Seating objects produced during the 1st studio week.

See all works here.

by KERNEL (Pegy Zali, Petros Moris, Theodoros Giannakis)

Bibliography

1. Bound By Law?, Center for the Study of the Public Domain, by K. Aoki, J. Boyle, 2006
2. Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership, by L. Hyde, 2010
3. Commonwealth, by M. Hardt & A. Negri, 2009
4. Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity, by L. Lessig, 2005
5. Reclaiming the Commons, by Naomi Klein, 2001
6. Romans, Roads, and Romantic Creators: Traditions of Public Property in the Information Age, by Carol M. Rose, 2003
7. Boyle, J., 2003. The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain, by J. Boyle, 2003
8. The Tragedy of the Anticommons: Property in the Transition from Marx to Market by Michael A. Heller, 1998
9. Benkler, Y., 2007. The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, by Y. Benkler, 2007

Download (.zip - 48,3 MB)

by Yannis Stavrakakis | #kamworkshops2011

If, today, we are living in the age of garbage – and I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that – this is not only because recycling technologies constitute the second fastest growing investment area in OECD countries, reversing the traditional understanding of garbage as waste and re-constituting it as a source of profit. This is not merely a matter of empirical observation and economic efficiency; it is primarily a matter of conceptual (reflexive) understanding. If we check a dictionary – I did check the one installed in my computer; I think it draws from Webster’s – garbage is invariably involved in the constitution of value and worth, precisely as an index of the their negation/exception. In particular, garbage is defined as ‘a thing that is considered worthless or meaningless’. It inaugurates thus a topology of value ‘contaminating’ all assumptions of identity, all hierarchical oppositions instituting social reality (identity/difference, clean/dirty, primary/secondary). It may be the case, then, that without attributions of garbage status – to give a topical example, the economy is today full of such attributions, from so-called ‘junk bonds’ to PIGS – no worth can be acknowledged; The empty signifier ‘garbage’ is thus revealed as possessing a potent value on a formal level, as a marker of the limits, of the periphery of a system, in fact of every system: without it no systematicity can be established. And without registering and working-through this (symbolic-affective) function no (personal or social) change can be envisaged.[…]

#kamworkshops2011 | regulations for garbage disposal at sea

Andreas Aligizos, Evgenia Asimakopoulou, Ourania Chatzitheofilou, Evelina Faliaga, Stefanos Filippas, Vallia Fragia, Kosta Georgiou, Chrysavgi Iordanidou, Irini Karaoli, Myrto Karydi, Eleni Kitani, Christina Krampokouki, Eleni MacKirachan, Christel Makri, Giannis Mamounas, Eliza Mante, Giannis Maroulakis Eleni Mastrogeorgopoulou, Iro Mazaraki, Anais Mikirditsian, Lilia Mitsiou, Maria Mitsoula, Evaggelia Mori, Tania Papasotiriou, Fotis Rovolis, Chara Stergiou, Ileana Toli, Dimitra Tsiami, Stefania Orfanidou, Pinelopi Papadimitrakaki, Irini-Anna Papadopoulou, Stella Rossikopoulou, Dimitris Spyropoulos, Giouli Spyropoulou, Aggeliki Terzaki, Ioanna Thanou, Maria Vgenopoulou, Andriana Voutsina, Evi Zouzoula

The main idea behind the project “Earthship” designed and implemented by the american architect Michael Reynolds lies in the reuse of garbage as building material. The concepts and the design of Earthship, developed as early as the 1970s, were later elaborated in three books published in 1990s titled: “How to build your Own,” “System and Components”, “Evolution Beyond Economics.” The books were conceived as a combination of manifesto, technical study and construction manual. A critical reading of Reynold’s conceptual and design approach, highlights the connections between this project and the architectural culture developed in the 1970s where Reynold’s Earthship shaped its own (pre) history of sustainable design. This project and its analysis contributes in many ways to the research approach of this year’s kamworkshops with the provovative theme: “the value of garbage” and it will be presented in the next days in this tumblr through an extended post.

Waste management facility in Chania. See here photos from the visit.

#kamworkshops2011 | Map of Clear Broken Glass by Robert Smithson 

In 1969 near Vancouver, Robert Smithson attempted to create an earthwork which was never realized:“Island of Broken Glass.” In the middle of the Georgia Straight he intended to dump 100 tons of broken glass onto a small rock island called Miami Islet, completely covering its surface with the shattered material. Due to the swirl of protests stemming from environmentalists and anti-Americanists, the project was suspended by a governmental telegram at the last moment.

(Source: stankievech.net)

#thevalueofgarbage | history of the toilet in cross sections. 

“1 pan closet and 2 valve closet: failure to dilute and purge bowl contents; 3 washout closet, insufficient head to purge lower basin; 4 wash down closet, continuous water movement with minimal loss of head; 5 syphonic closet, supplementary water jet for flushing action; 6 water saving syphonic jet closet, contemporary wash down action modified for reduced water consumption (courtesy of Eljer); 7 vacuum closet, vacuum suction of bowl contents as water plugs (courtesy of Colt industries) […]” from Progressive Architecture 7:75, p.73.

andreasangelidakis:

Tumbleweeds Catcher, Gianni Pettena, 1972

phokaides:

Metabolic House on Flickr.

Key to the Metabolic House:

A Recycling Chutte / B Mulch Processor / C Mulsch Collector / D Mulch Pickup / E Mulch / F Paper/fuel processor tank / G Furnace-boiler / H Piped-in biodegradable detergent / I Water recycling and distilling system / J Paperless toilet / K Vertical conveyor / L Horizontal conveyor / M Pollution control filters

by William Stumpf, 1989
Published in Lupton, Ellen, and J. Abbott Miller. 1992. The bathroom, the kitchen and the aesthetics of waste: a process of elimination. Cambridge, Mass: MIT List Visual Arts Center.

#kamworkshops2011: Setup for final presentation 

See twitter feed and photos.

(Source: berlinfarmlab)