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18 reasons to be cheerful after Copenhagen

Doors of Perception
Saturday, 19 December 2009
The outcome of Copenhagen is depressing if you only look at what happened at the official summit. So don't look there. I'm looking at these locally grown flowers as I type. You could look, instead, at the hundreds of thousand of groups that are already busy, in countless ways, preparing their communities for the changes and shocks to come. Several hundred of these groups helped draft System change – not climate change: A People’s Declaration from Klimaforum09 There are tens of thousands more words out there if you want them. For a change, rather than add my own portentous thoughts, I thought I would end the year by sharing with you 18 highlights of our re-localisation efforts here at Read more...

Designing an associative life

Doors of Perception
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Government departments or ministries responsible for sustainability, or "the environment", are too often constrained by small budgets and modest influence. Their very existence allows traditional departments - "industry", "economic affairs", "finance" or "transport" - to carry on their ecocidal ways as normal. A similar problem persists in business where Corporate Social Responsibility has long been treated as a sideline to the real action. A growing number of individuals in government or industry silos want to work collaboratively with their peers in other silos - but they are often stymied by a system that imprisons them. So what to do? Rather than rage against the iniquities of politicians, a new French organization called La 27e Region (The 27th Region) has set Read more...

Territorial development books

Doors of Perception
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
It has always been a point of pride at Doors of Perception events to curate the bookstore as carefully as we curate the speakers. We do this because when a conference theme cuts across disciplines - as ours do - no single bookseller is likely to know which are the best supporting titles on sustainability and design and culture and business; we select them collaboratively. So it was a special insider's pleasure to encounter a display of books at La 27e Region's event in Marseille on all aspects of territorial development. The word territorial has no direct English equivalent: in French (and also in Italian) it describes a synthesis of the soil, the land, the earth, biodiversity, culture, law, Read more...

Hand-made clothes for all

Doors of Perception
Saturday, 12 December 2009
This Louis Vuitton ad features shoes which cost about 600 euros (US$700) in the shops. I don't know how much Louis Vuitton pays for them, but I'd be surprised if the unit cost to the company is what: 60 euros? half that? The numbers may be confidential, but it's no longer a secret that Louis Vuitton products are not hand-made by horny-handed French craftsmen. On the contrary: the labour-intensive aspects of Louis Vuitton shoe production take place in India. But final assembly and finishing happen in Italy - so the louche young man in the ad could well be genuine. This arrangement allows the shoes to be labelled as ‘Made in Italy’ - at the end of a process Read more...

From King Parakramabahu to ethical fashion

Doors of Perception
Thursday, 03 December 2009
Some people blame the Enlightenment for our present troubles. The scientific revolution, they say, gave man ideas above his station. We frequently harm natural systems, goes the charge, because of our delusional belief that we are separate from, and have dominion over, nature. This myth of apartness, the charges conclude, dulls the responsibility we'd feel if we felt ourselves to be co-dependent members of natural community. History suggests that modernity is not uniquely to blame for messing with Gaia. During his reign as King of Sri Lanka from 1153–1186, for example, Parakramabahu asserted that "not even a little water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man". He went on to Read more...

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Interactive Architecture dot Org
Marilena Skavara – Adaptive Fa[ca]de

Here’s a great project that came out of the Adapative Architecture and Computation programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture. ‘Adaptive Fa[ca]de’ by Marilena Skavara explores the functional possibilities and performative characteristics of cellular automata (CA). In addition to the unique emergent behaviour of CA, a neural network enables a further computational layer to evolve [...]

Vague Terrain 16: Architecture/Action

Joshua Noble’s new issue of Vague Terrain is definately worth a look. He described this issue as “an exploration of space, functionality in space, and the relationship of the body to the systems around it. All technologies reshape the body and the space around the body, from the bow and arrow to the steam engine [...]

Reflexive Architecture Machines

Reflexive Architecture Machines envisions architecture that is self-organizing, capable of transforming itself in response to changes in its environment or use. It re-imagines how we shape and assemble conventional materials, like rubber, plastic, and wood through a combination of material and computational processes to develop more complex relations between parts and wholes. This fundamentally challenges [...]

Unconventional Computing & Architecture

Coming up in London soon, the one-day conference explores new materials for architectural practice in the 21st century. International architects and scientists will explore the decision-making properties of matter and how this may be applied to create increasingly life-like buildings. Organised by The Bartlett’s Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research (AVATAR) group, the conference aims to [...]

The definitive book to date…

Here a book I’ve really been meaning to post about for a long time. Published by PA Press, Michael Fox and Miles Kemp have put together as they call it “a processes-oriented guide to creating dynamic spaces and objects capable of performing a range of pragmatic and humanistic functions. These complex physical interactions are made [...]

Rachel Armstrong – Living Architecture

Rachel Armstrong teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, where she is advocating a new approach to architecture – one that sees buildings becoming living things. One of the best things about working at the Bartlett are some of the extraordinary people that you spend time with day to day and while [...]

Kiefer Technic Showroom Facade

Created by architect Giselbrecht + Partner ZT GmbH this amazing project is called “Dynamic Facade” better known as the Kiefer Technic Showroom in Bad Gleichenberg, Austria.

Olafur Eliasson @ MCA Sydney

One for those lucky enough to enjoy the Australian summer whilst we’re freezing up here in London- Olafur Eliasson’s Take Your Time exhibition is now on at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). Not that we Londoners have anything to complain about really, as we got his Weather Project back in 2003, and judging by [...]

Hear Here – an acoustic theatre – Ric Lipson

Sound is an integral part of the way we understand the space surrounding us. Size, quality, timbre, texture and the atmosphere of a space can all be inferred by the way in which we experience sound. Based on ideas from the Suffolk island of Orford Ness, Ric Lipson’s acoustic theatre ‘Hear Here” has been developed [...]

Sniff – Emergence Exhibition

The final piece in the Emergence Exhibition is “Sniff” by Karolina Sobecka and Jim George. Sniff is an interactive projection: an animated dog follows passers-by, discerns their behavior as friendly or aggressive, tries to engage them and forms a relationship with them based on the history of the interaction. As the viewer walks by the [...]

Doors of Perception weblog Reflections on design and the green economy by John Thackara
Polish Art in Beirut

An underground exhibition of Polish art in Beirut looks like a specialised event, even for me - only it features the work of the Polish photographer Nicolas Grospierre which makes it definitely worth a visit. Grospierre's modified architectural photographs were a highlight for me of the last Venice Architecture Biennale: a persuasive portrayal of what today's urban contexts could well look like in the near future. But Grospierre does not just do Bladerunner-ish images. He also shoots amazing structures at the edges of Eastern Europe. These range from bus-stops in Estonia... to this... I don't know how many of our readers live in Beirut, know someone in Beirut, or are going there soon - but for all the above,

Balanced budgets?

A few weeks back I was talking to Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, a partner in the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, when we were drowned out by the roar of a Eurofighter passing overhead. "One of those costs the same as a medium-sized opera house", Kjetl observed drily. Kjetl should know: he designed this medium-sized opera house in Oslo: Kjetl's throwaway comment prompted me to start looking for numbers comparing military versus cultural spending on a country-by-country basis. Several hours later, I am suspending this project. I cannot find a neat comparison league table - and the numbers I *have* found look so insane that I repeat them here in the hope that someone will reassure me that I am not

Electrosmog Festival

Preparations for the ElectroSmog International Festival for Sustainable Immobility are gathering pace. An Electrosmog blog has been launched, and Doors of Perception has agreed to co-host a session on Friday 19 at deBalie, in the afternoon. Our focus will be on the practical design steps to be taken now. ICT developers have been working on videocommunication since 1946 - but the experience still sucks. If massive amounts of bandwidth are not the answer, are there more artful ways to enhance remote communication? We're hoping to discuss promising approaches with a game designer, a theatre director/designer, and an artist and/or poet/writer.

For sustainability champions: my book is now in Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese and Polish.

Rule one in book publishing (where I worked for ten years) is: promote your own book, because nobody else will do so with as much energy and commitment. So, sorry to be brash, but please note the following: Today I received printed copies from its publisher, SUN, of Plan B - the Dutch version of my book In The Bubble; (the latter was published by MIT Press in 2005). For the Dutch and all the other language versions mentioned here, I reduced the original text to 45,000 words - but also added five new chapters. on: Sustainability; Metrics; Food; Development; and Telepresence. Here are three ways you can help Plan B reach sustainability champions: a) send the name and

Have I cracked the the telepresence conundrum?

Last evening I particpated remotely from my home in France in a pre-event in Amsterdam of ElectroSmog International Festival for Sustainable Immobility. I didn't use the fancy gadget in the photo above. My set-up yesterday was a bit, but not a lot, better-organized than the remote recording session (below) I did for a BBC radio programme last summer. I said my bit to deBalie via skype, and followed the rest of proceedings, which were chaired by Eric Kluitenberg, on deBalie's livestreaming feed. The deBalie session was not, I know, a major event in the greater context of events concerning sustainability, media, and design. But I'm proud, nonetheless: I have not yet set foot in an aeroplane in 2010, and

20. Bubble-glazing

Here is a late addition - number 20 - to our story of last week: 19 reasons to be cheerful after Copenhagen. Instructions: cut-to-fit; spray with water; bubbles face inwards. Done. (thx Miranda, for the new word)

Doors of Perception projects portfolio

Bulb-planting has started early at Doors HQ: - We've posted summary descriptions of the last ten years' Doors of Perception projects - the idea being that we plan to do more projects like these ones, only better. - All City Eco Lab posts are now in one stack; [City Eco Lab never had its own website]; - So too are all posts on new economic metrics; - We've started a new category on transition and resilience; here we reflect on our encounters with the Transition movement and the ways it is building resilience in communities around the world; - News on new and recent books by John Thackara are now collected in one place - buy them all now,

Marketing, me, and the future of tv

A marketing whiz I know in New York asked me to do her a favour: answer some questions about the future of tv. At least, that's what I thought she asked. But when, a couple of days later, a large FedEx package arrived, it contained a tiny digital voice recorder and the instruction: "tell us your views about the future of the television" - ie, the product, not its content. Although deprived of the opportunity to pontificate about the evils of reality television and Fox News, I nonetheless narrated the following into the little machine and FedExed it (at my friend's insistence) back. For some reason, I never heard from her again. [ Transcript below] "For me, big televisions are

19 reasons to be cheerful after Copenhagen (+1)

The outcome of Copenhagen is depressing if you only look at what happened at the official summit, and persist in the belief that those guys are "world leaders". They are not: they are followers, guardians of a dying regime. So don't look at them. Hundreds of thousand of groups are already busy, in countless ways, preparing their communities for the changes and shocks to come. Elements of an alternative global framework have started to emerge. Several hundred of these groups helped draft a 'People’s Declaration' from Klimaforum09 entitled System change – not climate change. It's a much better read. Meanwhile, I thought it would be both festive and restorative to share with you the following 19 highlights of our 2009

Designing an associative life

Government departments or ministries responsible for sustainability, or "the environment", are too often constrained by small budgets and modest influence. Their very existence allows traditional departments - "industry", "economic affairs", "finance" or "transport" - to carry on their ecocidal ways as normal. A similar problem persists in business where Corporate Social Responsibility has long been treated as a sideline to the real action. A growing number of individuals in government or industry silos want to work collaboratively with their peers in other silos - but they are often stymied by a system that imprisons them. So what to do? Rather than rage against the iniquities of politicians, a new French organization called La 27e Region (The 27th Region) has set

Territorial development books

It has always been a point of pride at Doors of Perception events to curate the bookstore as carefully as we curate the speakers. We do this because when a conference theme cuts across disciplines - as ours do - no single bookseller is likely to know which are the best supporting titles on sustainability *and* design *and* culture *and* business; we select them collaboratively. So it was a special insider's pleasure to encounter a display of books at La 27e Region's event in Marseille (see story above) on all aspects of territorial development. The word territorial has no direct English equivalent: in French (and also in Italian) it describes a synthesis of the soil, the land, the earth,

Hand-made clothes for all

This Louis Vuitton ad features shoes which cost about 600 euros (US$700) in the shops. I don't know how much Louis Vuitton pays for them, and I don't know how much they will be paying Tony Blair to help sell them but I'd be surprised if the unit cost to the company is what: 60 euros? half that? The numbers may be confidential, but it's no longer a secret that Louis Vuitton products are not hand-made by horny-handed French craftsmen. On the contrary: the labour-intensive aspects of Louis Vuitton shoe production take place in India. But final assembly and finishing happen in Italy - so the louche young man in the ad could well be genuine. This arrangement allows

From King Parakramabahu to ethical fashion

Some people blame the Enlightenment for our present troubles. The scientific revolution, they say, gave man ideas above his station. We frequently harm natural systems, goes the charge, because of our delusional belief that we are separate from, and have dominion over, nature. This myth of apartness, the charges conclude, dulls the responsibility we'd feel if we felt ourselves to be co-dependent members of natural community. History suggests that modernity is not uniquely to blame for messing with Gaia. During his reign as King of Sri Lanka from 1153–1186, for example, Parakramabahu asserted that "not even a little water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man". He went on to

In the Palace of the Popes

Is culture something that’s produced to be sold, or a description of the ways people live? It’s an old question, but last week’s Forum d’Avignon (see also my story below) put a new spin on it: could the culture industries lead the way out of the economic crisis? The debate did not take place on neutral territory. The Forum’s 300 grandees of media, economy and culture met in the Palace of the Popes. The event felt more like a papal conclave than a business meeting. But the Forum crowd was not to be diverted from earthly matters. The first day coincided with the leak of a dramatic missive from Société Générale warning its private clients to be ready for a

Post-GDP: metrics, aesthetics, or ethics?

So on Friday I'm immoderating a panel discussion about "After GDP" at the Forum d'Avignon, a uniquely French event which brings the worlds of culture, economy and media together in the Palais des Papes. By way of throwing an advance stone into the pond, I wrote this short background article for Les Echos. The French version comes first (thanks, Emilie!); scroll down for the English version.

NYT > Art & Design
Abroad: Caravaggio in Ascendance: An Antihero’s Time to Shine

By one new metric, Michelangelo has been bumped from his perch atop the Italian art charts by Caravaggio, a hyperrealist whose art is instantly accessible.

Architecture Review: A Paris Tribute to an Almost-Sideways View of the World

There’s something both touching and disturbing at the heart of “Claude Parent: Graphic and Built Works.”

Christie’s Wins Bid to Auction $150 Million Brody Collection

The art collection of the Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody will be sold at Christie’s in New York in May.

Ken Price, Suddenly Dominating New York Galleries

Ken Price remains a remarkably productive sculptor and renderer of graphic, cartoonlike drawings.

Suicide Raises Legal Issues in Indian Artifacts Cases

The effect of a central federal witness’s death, the third suicide related to a sprawling inquiry into artifact theft, is unclear.

Arts, Briefly: Architectural Records Saved at Last Minute

Street Art Is Landing at New Addresses, in Galleries

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Visuals: Histories of Maps and Other Visual Books

Visual books about maps, the design firm Unimark International and African and Central Asian “war rugs.”

Frank Williams, Architect of Towers in Manhattan, Dies at 73

Mr. Williams was the lead architect or collaborated with other prominent designers on 20 buildings in Manhattan.

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Art Review | 'Skin Fruit': A Mainstream Show at the Anti-Mainstream New Museum

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Art Review | 'The Armory Show': At Piers 92 and 94, Nudes, a Pirate and Scrooge McDuck

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Exhibition Review | 'Charles Addams's New York': The New Yorker Cartoonist’s Skewed Views of Life, Revisited

Charles Addams, in his mischief, makes the illicit an enchanting, almost whimsical aspect of daily life.

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Art Review | Independent: A New Show by Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook in Chelsea

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On Location: Sets for the Artist Marina Abramovic’s Dramatic Life

For this performance artist, whose retrospective opens this month at MoMA, two minimalist homes shelter an outsize spirit.

Jeff Koons: The Artist and the Art of Others

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Robert Kennedy Items Removed From Police Exhibit

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Arts, Briefly: Financier to Head Kennedy Center Board

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