The representation of ‘building events’ in Wim Wenders’ Cathedrals of Culture

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This article explores the representation of buildings in Wim Wenders’ anthology film Cathedrals of Culture [2014. Directors: Wim Wenders, Michael Glawogger, Michael Madsen, Robert Redford, Margreth Olith, Karim Anouiz]. In this, six landmarks of public architecture, reflecting a commitment to diverse social practices are presented in response to the film’s unifying brief of capturing the ‘soul of buildings’. The article centres on a selection of three films, The Berlin Philharmonic by Wenders himself, The National Library of Russia by Michael Glawogger and Michael Madsen’s contribution about Halden Prison. The analysis of the different filmic approaches taken to the representation of architecture focuses in particular, on how these draw in very different ways on a first person voice-over and the use of 3D. Overall, these films construct different epistemic positions on how public architecture may be known and they challenge traditional notions of buildings as static and material. Instead they mobilise filmic resources to show how social practices and meanings become manifest in the physical features of buildings and how, in turn, such practices are shaped by the architecture. They transform these material structures into ‘building-events’ [Jacobs, J. 2006. “A Geography of Big Things.” Cultural Geographies 13: 1–27]

Review Essay: An Ethnography of Pastness Identity Playgrounds and Battlefields in Post-Post-Soviet Estonia

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State recognition for ‘contested languages’: a comparative study of Sardinian and Asturian, 1992–2010

While the idea of a named language as a separate and discrete identity is a political and social construct, in the cases of Sardinian and Asturian doubts over their respective ‘languageness’ have real material consequences, particularly in relation to language policy decisions at the state level. The Asturian example highlights how its lack of official status means that it is either ignored or subjected to repeated challenges to its status as a language variety deserving of recognition and support, reflecting how ‘official language’ in the Spanish context is often understood in practice as synonymous with the theoretically broader category of ‘language’. In contrast, the recent state recognition of Sardinian speakers as a linguistic minority in Italy (Law 482/1999) illustrates how legal recognition served to overcome existing obstacles to the implementation of regional language policy measures. At the same time, the limited subsequent effects of this Law, particularly in the sphere of education, are a reminder of the shortcomings of top-down policies which fail to engage with the local language practices and attitudes of the communities of speakers recognized. The contrastive focus of this article thus acknowledges the continued material consequences of top-down language classification, while highlighting its inadequacies as a language policy mechanism which reinforces artificial distinctions between speech varieties and speakers deserving of recognition