Did
we mean participate or Did we mean something else?
Markus Miessen & Shumon Basar, Editors
Flatness?
Today, the need to identify and instrumentalise “spatial practices” becomes
significant due to the unprecedented visibility of what one might call “globalization
at work”: from Iraq to Nepal, Dubai to Mumbai, a new atlas is
being re-drawn for the 21st century, one that Thomas Friedman describes
as a new “flatness”. Did Someone Say Participate? re-draws
the map of participatory, spatial practice that is a function of such
shifts.
Control?
What was once seen as the defensive preserve of architects – mapping,
making, or manipulating spaces – has become a new “culture
of space” produced and shaped by an ever increasing number of
disciplines. Did Someone Say Participate? showcases a range of forward-thinking
practitioners and theorists who actively trespass – or “participate” – in
neighbouring or alien knowledge-spaces. They share an essential interest:
the understanding, production and altering of spatial conditions as
a pre-requisite of identifying the broader reaches of political reality.
Consensus?
The future spatial practitioner could arguably be understood as an
outsider who, instead of trying to set up or sustain common denominators
of consensus, enters existing situations or projects by deliberately
instigating conflicts between often-delineated fields of knowledge.
In this context, the spatial practitioner is presented as an enabler,
a facilitator of interaction that stimulates alternative debates and
speculations. Atlas? Rather than understanding this book as the next “atlas” of
practice that presents an incontrovertible world-picture, it represents
an early mapping exercise.. In this sense, the shape of the contents – designed
and interpreted by the innovative graphic designers Åbäke – chart
emerging knowledge-continents.
Participants?
There is no intention to “map” a particular generation
here. It is the case that the “spatial pracititioner” may
well be in their early 20s or indeed in their 50s, sharing common discoveries
through entirely unrelated contexts. The disciplinary territories include
art, curation, architecture, photography, geography, humanitarianism,
politics, philosophy, urbanism, information technology, pedagogy and
futurology.
Tactics?
Empowerment sometimes emerges in conditions that theoretically aught
to thwart it. Knowledge is often generated at the edges or the gaps
of ignorance. Participation is simply a tactic of complicit curiosity
scaled to the space you’re currently in. We hope that the continents
of knowledge in Did Someone Say Participate? will be welcome challenges
not only for those involved in the future of architectural research
and practice, but for anyone interested in navigating through current
forms of cultural inquiry and debate.
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