Sleeping in public, scene from film 'Outside' of Sergio Cruz.

To know more information about the artist and the Tinag screening see websites below:

Sergio Cruz: http://www.rhiz.eu/person-37213-en.html

TINAG events: http://thisisnotagateway.squarespace.com/salons-upcoming/

However representations of the architect in the media, such as in newspapers, television and films, mediate an idea of the architect which is quiet the opposite of the one I sketched out above. In the media, the architect is not only always masculine, in one-way or another attractive, but he is also the figure capable of interpreting the world we live in. To give an example, think about George Constanza in the series Seinfeld. On several occasions when George met a woman, he always said he was an architect. In one episode, ‘The Race’, he even claimed that he had designed ‘the new addition to the Guggenheim’! There are also other examples in which the architect’s profession is advertised by a popular figure, such as Brad Pitt. Hollywood’s star actor Pitt shared a few years ago the following: ‘whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion’. Pitt’s most desired dream is to be an architect! If we have to believe the images we see, Pitt worked already on various occasions in Frank Gehry’s office.

All these socially constructed images of the architect produce in many ways a myth around the figure of the architect that seems to be reality itself. Interestingly, in his book Mythologies the French structuralist critic Roland Barthes explains through the summation of familiar things how a myth functions and the power it embodies to control our thoughts. He shows how all these myths actually signify different things of the world itself. The myth of the architect seems thus to say much more things about the world than we initially assumed.

To shake this mythical discourse I propose we all share our image of the architect in the comment zone below.

Brad Pitt in the model room in Gehry’s office.

Since then, there have been very few significant contributions, among them Lofland and Gehl are worth mentioning, that came to reassert once again the importance of the field of public-space sociology and to broaden its theoretical and analytical scope. But still a lot more could have been done, specially from a spatial perspective!

For those interested in or already busy with exploring the ‘sociology of public space’, please contact me. I will be very interested in discussing further since I am working in a project for an edited book and i am looking for future collaborators.

On-site at ExperimentaDesign, DESIGN ACT invites you to a discussion about socially and politically engaged design.Visit and contribute to: a seminar featuring Swedish practitioners discussing historical and contemporary projects; live interviews during the opening week, and; an installation featuring a participatory archive of project examples where you can collect information and print your own publication. The installed and online archive of DESIGN ACT will be continually updated with media and materials produced from these activities.

How can design materialize ideas that can lead to wider change? Can design reform – or contest – social and political conditions? Where does this take place – in the design studio or on the factory floor, in exhibition settings or on the streets? What are the emerging tactics, outcomes and audiences for such forms of practice?

The DESIGN ACT seminar explores critical roles for designers in society. In Sweden, architecture, fashion and design have historically participated in constructing the ideals – and forms – of the welfare state. Today, practitioners continue to engage in social and societal issues, whether materializing a critique of the status quo, proposing alternatives to reform systems and spaces, or staging participatory design processes and public debates. While too often reduced to questions of form and function, such tendencies expose powerful and political forms of design practice.

Featuring a series of presentations from Swedish designers and a panel session with international guests, the DESIGN ACT seminar at ExperimentaDesign reflects on historical precedents and discusses examples of contemporary practice. Presentations by: Helena Mattsson, on Swedish welfare politics, critique and design; Ana Betancour, on architecture as catalyst for social change; Otto von Busch, on hactivism and participation in fashion design; Tor Lindstrand, on architecture and performance for staging new social interactions.

In the panel session following the presentations, the presenters, international guests and the audience take up the seminar theme in relation to issues in other contexts, disciplines and parts of the world – and, together, reflect on future directions for design.

The Venue will take place in: EXD’09 Lounging Space, Palácio Braamcamp, Pátio do Tijolo 25, Lisbon, Portugal. For details and updates on the participants and program: http://www.design-act.se

Installation: 9 September – 8 November

Live interviews: 10 September, 12AM – 8PM

Seminar: Friday 11 September, 2.30 – 8 PM

The last two decades debates on the future of public life and public spaces have been markedly western-oriented, negativist and raising often questions: does public space still matters for our public life?

To counter these views, I would like to offer a different and non-western perspective for the discussion. Here, I will talk about the case of China, more in particular about the cities of Beijing and Nanning, which I had the opportunity to visit this year in June. This visit made part of a Workshop on “the Quality of public space” in the UK and China, that we, the Bartlett School, were invited. The workshop took place in Nanning, a city in the south of China. There we had numerous opportunities to discuss the design of the city centres and public spaces with the present Chinese professors, planners and architects and it became obvious that not only we have different views in reading public space but also the problems we are dealing with sometimes seem irrelevant in comparison to theirs.

I do not intend to go on in detail on everything of what we discussed but some aspects deserve attention. So I will give some comments as I will go along the pictures below, in the hope that this can help us to understand how different the problematics and challenges of the public spaces of the Chinese cities are.

1. Chinese cities are facing great difficulties to keep the balance between progress (expressed by the accelerating urbanization) and protection of their historical heritage. In this picture of Nanning, it is evident how the old urban fabric is being swallowed and suffocated by massive high-rise buildings and sliced by new urban infrastructure.

2. There is a recent obsession to import European representations of public spaces to their cities. Here we can see an interesting example of that, the Olympic site in Beijing clearly resembles to a big boulevard in Paris.

3. Most Chinese cities are still dominated by small-scale businesses and commerce. It is unbelievable the variety of products you can find in these shops. In western cities, we hardly can find this anymore. This picture is an interesting example of a typical underground shopping street in Nanning; they call it Mouse Street. Off course, there is a danger that progress will soon get rid of them.

4. There is as well a growing informal sector of commerce; street vendors are an indelible feature of Chinese public spaces, as you can see in this picture of Nanning. In the western cities, there is too much regulation for this ever to be possible again.

5. People often sleep in public; this shows how safe streets still are. This contrasts very much with our present western situation.

6. I could go on trying to find more examples but I think it is clear enough how distinct the problematics of Chinese cities public spaces and public life are. To understand that, you do not have to go very far, just immerse in a gastronomic experience and see what they eat. I had a snake and turtle soup that were an absolute gastronomic delight !!!