The Art-Architecture Complex. Hal Foster
The Guardian architecture critic, Rowan Moore, asks “Is it a good idea if architects start seeing themselves as artists?” in a review of The Art-Architecture Complex by art theorist Hal Foster, Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. The book analyzes the global style in iconic art and architecture to “reveal the gap between the reported effects of buildings and art pieces, and their actual ones.” Hal Foster. The Art-Architecture Complex. published by Verso. 5 September 2011. ISBN 9781844676897. £20. www.versobooks.com
Compendium for the Civic Economy. Timothy Ahrensbach, Joost Beunderman, Indy Johar
Compendium for the Civic Economy presents 25 way-finding examples of the civic economy throughout the UK and abroad. The examples – from edible public spaces to a tutoring centre that hides behind a pirate shop, and from self-commissioned housing to peer-to-peer ride sharing websites – are rooted in age-old traditions of the associational economy but built using new organising tactics, ways of connecting with people and approaches to collaborative investment. Compendium for the Civic Economy. Timothy Ahrensbach, Joost Beunderman, Indy Johar. Published March 2011. 196pp. ISBN 09568821006 www.civiceconomy.net Download – http://www.nesta.org.uk/assets/features/compendium_for_the_civic_economy
Rafael Vinoly Architects. Philip Jodidio
Uruguyan architect Rafael Viñoly founded Rafael Viñoly Architects PC in 1983. This comprehensive monograph features a chronological sampling of his best work in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Viñoly states that the responsibility of architecture is to elevate the public realm and the large and small-scale projects encompass courthouses, private residences, athletic facilities, performing arts centres, museums and educational buildings. Illustrated with photographs, plans and drawings, and accented by the architects personal reflection on his career. Rafael Vinoly Architects. Philip Jodidio. Published by Prestel, 2011. Hardcover: 460 pages / 800 illustrations ISBN: 978-3-7913-5074-5. £65.00 www.randomhouse.de/prestel_eng/index.jsp
(Dis)Locations: Exile, Topology, Relocation. Edited by Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro
A compendium of contemporary public art / space thinking. “In the spirit of an exploratory, transdisciplinary object, you may thus find here essays on the mutating codes of landscaping (Laura Castro), a possible topology of media (Miguel Leal), the shifting status of public art (Jeremy Hunt & Jonathan Vickery), and even a graphic novel on non-gravity architecture as a reenacted, roving Noah’s Ark (Jimenez Lai).” Pedro Gadanho, shrapnel contemporary. This book is bilingual in Portuguese and English and presents projects by Final Year Students of the Master of Art and Design for the Public Space, Fine Arts Faculty, University of Porto and texts by Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro, Godofredo Nobre, Jeremy Hunt and Jonathan Vickery, José Guilherme Abreu, Laura Castro, Michael Asbury, Miguel Leal, Pedro Gadanho e Susana Caló, as well as a graphic novel by Jimenez Lai.
Published by the Master of Art & Design for the Public Space, Fine Arts Faculty, University of Porto // Mestrado em Arte e Design para o Espaço Público, Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade do Porto // June 2011. http://madep.wordpress.com – For copies contact: Joana Cunha: joana (at) fba.up.pt
Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest. Pierre Derks
Early in 2009, thousands of blue helmeted model soldiers began to appear in various parts of the world. Each in a different type of urban space in a project, which in terms of its spatial coverage, is probably the largest public art project ever. The book contains hundreds of photographs of the public art army with short essays by Susan Manuel, Roger Stahl, Jonathan Vickery, Patrick M. Regan, Jos Morren, Linda Polman, Matt Groff, Christ Klep, Damon Stanek and Pierre Derks. Pierre Derks, Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest. (1000 copies limited edition artist’s book). Den Haag, (lhGWR – Liefhertje en de Grote Witte Reus, 2011)165 x 115 x 36 mm, 560 pages, ISBN: 978-90-902599 www.grotewittereus.nl
The New Blackwell Companion to the City. Gary Bridge / Sophie Watson (Editors)
“The New Blackwell Companion to the City, is a collection of 65 academic essays, covering everything from the role of dance in shaping cities to race and class in South Africa, to the application of military techniques to city planning. Inevitably, given such a sprawl, it combines nice nuggets with essays of wilful opacity. The destructive effects of global capital and neo-liberal politics are much explored”. The Guardian. The New Blackwell Companion to the City. Gary Bridge (Editor), Sophie Watson (Editor). Published by Wiley-Blackwell, March 2011. ISBN: 978-1-4051-8981-1. Hardcover. 784 pages. www.wiley.com
Living in the Endless City. Ricky Burdett & Deyan Sudjic
In 2050, over three quarters of the world’s population will live in cities. This follow-up to Phaidon’s The Endless City is a close look at the issues that affect cities, and thus human life across the globe in the twenty-first century. Based on a series of conferences held by the London School of Economics. Focuses on Istanbul, Mumbai and São Paulo, with essays and data on themes including security, climate change, democracy and globalization in these three cities as well as the six featured in The Endless City: Berlin, Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, New York City and Shanghai. Living in the Endless City. Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic. Published June 2011. Phaidon books. £39.95. www.phaidon.co.uk
A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain. Owen Hatherley
Owen Hatherley writes a monthly topical column on architecture in Building Design. He is an apologist for modernist architecture in his book Militant Modernism. A Guide to the New Ruins of Britain is a darkly humorous architectural guide to the decrepit new Britain that neoliberalism built. ‘A scathing, bleakly humorous autopsy of the architectural ‘state we’re in’ looking at the cityscapes that sprung up after 1997, and the riverside apartment complexes, art galleries, shopping malls, call centres and factories turned into expensive lofts that epitomize an age of greed and aspiration. ‘This surgical evisceration of the cityscapes of Blairism is required reading’ RIBA Journal. A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain. Published July 2011. ISBN. 9781844677009. Verso £9.99 www.versobooks.com
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