The School Scene of Education: The Dead Archive or Embodied Memory?

The article presents humanistic education as a process of transmission (values, beliefs, memories, stories, tales). The author focuses on the student as a co-creator of the educational event and what is preserved in his memory. The topic was developed on the basis of the performative concept of the archive and repertoire formulated by Diana Taylor. The article discusses school practices that involve the use of unattractive, anachronistic texts and working methods and present a simplified interpretation of the past, implementing the current discourse of power.

Embodied Memory and Alternative Futures

Through the Peace Ride, the Compton Cowboys, as activists and performance artists within the Black Lives Matter movement, materialized the long legacy of Black men and women riders in the United States. These protest bodies on horseback imagine alternative futures for Black communities through embodied memory and a rewriting of the archive.

Towards Digital Place(s): cultivating a language of digital design in architecture

The term “place” has been used to identify meaningful locations or buildings in reference to limitless connections, be they sensorial or emotional that develop an embodied memory of space as experienced by the senses. In the contemporary age of digital society the level of technological depth that an individual may be submerged throughout their daily activities has created a barrier between space and its occupant that must be bridged before a sense of place can be established. The following thesis will explore the social impacts of technological advancements in contemporary society which has created a populace of high-tech nomads and the implications of those advancements for physical environment and architecture. Finding ways of bridging that intangible barrier or a gap through architecture will drive space and its formal expression to new levels of interactivity and connectivity that are capable of resurfacing the digitally submerged, strengthening the existing and forging new relationships between people and places. This thesis will explore the bridging of the gap between digital technology and physical space through the advancement of interactive, adaptive spaces, materials, and forms that combine and embody a language and experience of digital design. Each section of the document works towards the establishment of the idea that it is firstly, possible to bridge that gap and to create harmony between the digital and the physical, and secondly to show that this harmony can be meaningful, impactful, and complimentary to the present richness that is the urban fabric. This thesis will investigate the impact and implications of presence of digital technologies on the forms of societal and spatial interaction. As one’s daily life starts to operate within a digital platform independently of the realm of physical space, architecture can become reoriented to establish its new parameters. An attempt to formulate a new language of digital design will allow the development of a new form of architecture, capable of engaging contemporary high-tech society in a new place making. As one begins to communicate and engage with his surroundings via his personal devices and vice versa a new system of interaction between occupants and occupied will emerge, as will new relationship between people and spaces.

Towards Digital Place(s): cultivating a language of digital design in architecture

The term “place” has been used to identify meaningful locations or buildings in reference to limitless connections, be they sensorial or emotional that develop an embodied memory of space as experienced by the senses. In the contemporary age of digital society the level of technological depth that an individual may be submerged throughout their daily activities has created a barrier between space and its occupant that must be bridged before a sense of place can be established. The following thesis will explore the social impacts of technological advancements in contemporary society which has created a populace of high-tech nomads and the implications of those advancements for physical environment and architecture. Finding ways of bridging that intangible barrier or a gap through architecture will drive space and its formal expression to new levels of interactivity and connectivity that are capable of resurfacing the digitally submerged, strengthening the existing and forging new relationships between people and places. This thesis will explore the bridging of the gap between digital technology and physical space through the advancement of interactive, adaptive spaces, materials, and forms that combine and embody a language and experience of digital design. Each section of the document works towards the establishment of the idea that it is firstly, possible to bridge that gap and to create harmony between the digital and the physical, and secondly to show that this harmony can be meaningful, impactful, and complimentary to the present richness that is the urban fabric. This thesis will investigate the impact and implications of presence of digital technologies on the forms of societal and spatial interaction. As one’s daily life starts to operate within a digital platform independently of the realm of physical space, architecture can become reoriented to establish its new parameters. An attempt to formulate a new language of digital design will allow the development of a new form of architecture, capable of engaging contemporary high-tech society in a new place making. As one begins to communicate and engage with his surroundings via his personal devices and vice versa a new system of interaction between occupants and occupied will emerge, as will new relationship between people and spaces.

Towards digital place(s): cultivating a language of digital design in architecture

The term “place” has been used to identify meaningful locations or buildings in reference to limitless connections, be they sensorial or emotional that develop an embodied memory of space as experienced by the senses. In the contemporary age of digital society the level of technological depth that an individual may be submerged throughout their daily activities has created a barrier between space and its occupant that must be bridged before a sense of place can be established. The following thesis will explore the social impacts of technological advancements in contemporary society which has created a populace of high-tech nomads and the implications of those advancements for physical environment and architecture. Finding ways of bridging that intangible barrier or a gap through architecture will drive space and its formal expression to new levels of interactivity and connectivity that are capable of resurfacing the digitally submerged, strengthening the existing and forging new relationships between people and places. This thesis will explore the bridging of the gap between digital technology and physical space through the advancement of interactive, adaptive spaces, materials, and forms that combine and embody a language and experience of digital design. Each section of the document works towards the establishment of the idea that it is firstly, possible to bridge that gap and to create harmony between the digital and the physical, and secondly to show that this harmony can be meaningful, impactful, and complimentary to the present richness that is the urban fabric. This thesis will investigate the impact and implications of presence of digital technologies on the forms of societal and spatial interaction. As one’s daily life starts to operate within a digital platform independently of the realm of physical space, architecture can become reoriented to establish its new parameters. An attempt to formulate a new language of digital design will allow the development of a new form of architecture, capable of engaging contemporary high-tech society in a new place making. As one begins to communicate and engage with his surroundings via his personal devices and vice versa a new system of interaction between occupants and occupied will emerge, as will new relationship between people and spaces.

In Search Of Place

The following thesis will explore the contemporary meaning of ‘Place’ and the lost relationship between human sensitivity -both emotional and physical- and the setting, which together would form the very definition of a place, and will make an attempt to re-define this relationship. By returning to the basic definition of place, this paper emphasizes the fact that place without memory is simply space without meaning and that unlike places of our time that put little emphasis on the embodied memory, memory of place is experienced through not only mind but also the entire body. The paper will take a bottom-up approach where ‘Space’ as a fundamental element of ‘Place’ and its transformation to place is discussed. There will be a comprehensive discussion on place itself and the role and ability of embodied memory in creation of place. Each section will make an effort to consider the current circumstances of ‘Place’ and how they might be transformed to establish a relationship between embodied memory of space and the physical location. Here, senses, movement and basic orientation of the body will be discussed as elements empowering the embodied memory and having the ability to transform spaces–or non-places- of our time into place. Movement if not one of our five senses, inspires us to engage our whole body; we see, touch and smell what surrounds us, and also understand the setting in the sense that we engage or interact with it. The design project will explore the act of movement as the fundamental element of forming embodied memory of ‘Space’ and transforming it into ‘Place’. Element of path, which links two significant nodes - one known as a place and another a non-place- will be incorporated to represent the act of movement and its impact on creation of a ‘Place’.

In Search Of Place

The following thesis will explore the contemporary meaning of ‘Place’ and the lost relationship between human sensitivity -both emotional and physical- and the setting, which together would form the very definition of a place, and will make an attempt to re-define this relationship. By returning to the basic definition of place, this paper emphasizes the fact that place without memory is simply space without meaning and that unlike places of our time that put little emphasis on the embodied memory, memory of place is experienced through not only mind but also the entire body. The paper will take a bottom-up approach where ‘Space’ as a fundamental element of ‘Place’ and its transformation to place is discussed. There will be a comprehensive discussion on place itself and the role and ability of embodied memory in creation of place. Each section will make an effort to consider the current circumstances of ‘Place’ and how they might be transformed to establish a relationship between embodied memory of space and the physical location. Here, senses, movement and basic orientation of the body will be discussed as elements empowering the embodied memory and having the ability to transform spaces–or non-places- of our time into place. Movement if not one of our five senses, inspires us to engage our whole body; we see, touch and smell what surrounds us, and also understand the setting in the sense that we engage or interact with it. The design project will explore the act of movement as the fundamental element of forming embodied memory of ‘Space’ and transforming it into ‘Place’. Element of path, which links two significant nodes - one known as a place and another a non-place- will be incorporated to represent the act of movement and its impact on creation of a ‘Place’.

The Childhood of Theatre: The Errant Method for an ‘Infant Public’

Chiara Guidi, along with Romeo and Claudia Castellucci, was one of the founders in 1981 of Societas Raffaello Sanzio (now renamed Societas), the Italian company that, above any other, has been at the forefront of the international theatre scene since the early 1980s. She was the soul of dramatic rhythm and vocal composition for the company’s productions, directing numerous plays and researching each actor’s spoken part. Author and producer of sound theatre since the 1990s, she has also created an intense artistic experience with children as part of her research and analysis of the relationship between voice and childhood, which has earned her several awards, including an Ubu Prize in 2013. In this interview1 she discusses the early projects of Societas Raffaello Sanzio, which explored immersive, environmental performances for and with children – a line of research within the company’s multidirectional and overlapping experimental activity that she led. Dominika Laster is Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of Grotowski’s Bridge Made of Memory: Embodied Memory, Witnessing and Transmission in the Grotowski Work (2016), and is Executive Co-Director of the ‘Performance in the Peripheries’ initiative (see https://www.performanceperipheries.com).

Body and Gesture in Derek Walcott’s Theatre

Reflecting on Derek Walcott’s early relationship with movement, dance and ritual, this article sheds light on the centrality of embodied memory in Walcott’s work for the stage and reflects on the relationship between memory and materiality in his epistemology of performance. Walcott’s ideas shaped his approach to dramaturgy in the late 1950s and position his work in relation to global debates around materialism (Brecht) and ritualism (Grotowski) in the theatre. A discussion of two plays, Dream on Monkey Mountain and Pantomime, examines the use of gestural language in specific performances of each. Such an approach demonstrates that the importance of embodied memory, as reflected in the staging of these plays, relates to certain Afro-Caribbean belief systems, which have exerted much influence on Walcott’s work. The article also emphasizes how Walcott’s theatre functions as a decolonial praxis that fosters the emergence of empowered subjectivities and Africanist modes of humanness that challenge the cultural order of colonialism. Jason Allen-Paisant is a lecturer in Caribbean Poetics and Decolonial Thought at the University of Leeds, and Director of the Institute for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies. He is currently at work on the monograph Staging Black Futures in the Twenty-First Century.