Animals, Touch, and Books: Surface Matters in the HIV/AIDS Archive

This project considers lesser-known, often overlooked cultural responses to HIV/AIDS. Almost four decades after its onset, the HIV/AIDS crisis continues to be a global phenomenon with biomedical, economic, and cultural implications. However, much of the scholarly work done as part of the ongoing ‘AIDS Crisis Revisitation’ has been dominated by cultural productions about HIV/AIDS in, mainly, the US; in contrast, the literature has systematically ignored other realities. My project responds to this urgent situation by analysing and creatively discussing selected case studies from ‘the South’, with a focus on Chile and Spain, two countries with mirroring contexts in terms of their respective political and cultural trajectories. As a specific viewpoint or critical approach to the HIV/AIDS archive, the project resorts to the notion of ‘surface’ as a driving concept. In this study surface comes to represent two things: material surface and the method of analysis known as ‘surface reading’. Central to my project is questioning the ideas of ‘a crisis’ and ‘an AIDS’ crisis. This is a task that requires a creative dialogue between different epistemic/ethical positions, a dialogue where ‘the human’ is ethically imbricated with other beings, both living and non-living, organic and non-organic. Methodologically, the project consists of two components: a theoretical dissertation and a practical, collaborative curatorial project. The dissertation is divided into three chapters, each focusing on an overlooked problematic in the AIDS archive –non-human animals, touch, and the book-object; the three lie in conceptual proximity in their figuration as surface. Among other formalizations, including seminars, workshops, and publications, the practical component has been staged three times as an exhibition in the course of the production of the thesis. Altogether, the thesis expands existing work on the HIV/AIDS archive through geography and language, culture and representation

Approach to public space. Readings of a new generation of spanish architects

[EN] The context of crisis in which Spanish architecture is developed today determines the response of architects when exercising their discipline. The public space -as a frame for work, experimentation and commitment- has replaced the collective housing and social housing where today, for obvious reasons, there are not any opportunities for development. Upon recognizing the tradition and the uniqueness of modern architecture in Spain, and through the example of six emergent offices, one can glimpse the strategies and concerns drawing the panorama of contemporary architecture in our country.[ES] El contexto de crisis en el que hoy se desarrolla la arquitectura española condiciona la respuesta de los arquitectos en el ejercicio disciplinar. El espacio público como marco de trabajo, experimentación y compromiso ha venido a sustituir al de la vivienda colectiva y la vivienda social donde hoy, por razones obvias, no hay oportunidades de desarrollo. Desde el reconocimiento de la tradición y las singularidades de la arquitectura moderna en España, y a través del ejemplo de seis estudios emergentes, se vislumbran estrategias e inquietudes que pueden dibujar el panorama de la arquitectura contemporánea en nuestro país.Serrano Amatriain, D.; Vélez Olabarria, M. (2015). Acercamiento al espacio público. Lecturas de una nueva generación de arquitectos españoles. EN BLANCO. Revista de Arquitectura. 7(19):70-75. doi:10.4995/eb.2015.4641SWORD7075719- "Viajes en la transición de la arquitectura espa-ola hacia la modernidad [actas preliminares] Pamplona, 6-7 mayo 2010, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura Universidad de Navarra." Pamplona: 1ª edición, T6 ediciones, 2010. ISBN: 978-84-92409-13-6

Importance of phenotypic plastic traits on invasion success: Response of Xenostrobus securis to the predatory dogwhelk Nucella lapillus

14 páginas, 7 figuras, 3 tablasThe ability of the invasive mussel Xenostrobus securis to activate defence mechanisms in response to the novel predatory dogwhelk Nucella lapillus was explored using field- and laboratory-based approaches. The importance of the origin of mussels was investigated in relation to different environmental conditions and levels of predation pressure (high and low). In the field, the responses of mussels were clearly asymmetrical: only individuals caged with dogwhelks at the site of high predation risk underwent phenotypical changes (stronger attachment, thicker shells and heavier adductor muscle). In contrast, shell growth was faster in mussels held in cages without dogwhelks at the high predation-risk site, suggesting trade-off patterns between growth and other energy-demanding actions. Nevertheless, X. securis activated inducible morphological defences without any detrimental effect on soft tissue growth (i.e. condition index). In the laboratory, the role of temperature on phenotypic responses of mussels exposed to dogwhelk was also evaluated. Mussels originally from the site of low predation risk showed a weaker response to the predator N. lapillus, probably because of difficulties in correctly identifying predator cues. At higher temperatures, mussels secreted stronger byssal threads regardless of their origin, while condition was poorer, shells thinner and gametogenesis activated more rapidly, particularly in the presence of dogwhelks. In summary, X. securis appears to be highly capable of activating protective mechanisms in marine environments within its geographical range of expansion through improved fitnessThis study was funded by the Spanish government through the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (project AGL2010-16464) and the Autonomic government Xunta de Galicia-FEDER (project GRC2013-004)Peer reviewe

Formulating relations:an approach to the <i>smyt</i>-formula

Summary The language of monumental inscriptions on Middle Kingdom stelae is often regarded as highly standardised and formulaic, thus its potential for assessing social practices is considered to be fairly limited. An analysis that integrates textual and contextual evidence may, however, facilitate a better understanding of some formulae and the role those stelae played in the construction of contemporary social models. The rare smyt-formula is attested in nine objects of the late 12th or early 13th dynasty. Most of these are stelae found at Abydos, hence saturated with the site’s cultic importance. Although their disparate stylistic features rule out their being products of a single workshop, the use of the formula and its arrangement after a list of personal names is strikingly consistent. The way in which people, who are mentioned on those lists, are related to the dedicatees of the monuments may provide a clue as to why this formula emerged in the late Middle Kingdom, a time when kinship relations were often celebrated and commemorated on stelae in the context of the ritual landscape of Abydos. Moreover, the smyt-formula signposts a latent tension between two modes of group formation, focused respectively on ego or on his ancestors.</jats:p

It’s show time! All that Jazz y el coreógrafo como personaje cinematográfico

La danza ha sido desde los orígenes del cinematógrafo un atractivo ingrediente para el séptimo arte. No obstante, las películas que presentan a sus creadores resultan la excepción. De entre estas excepciones caben destacar películas como Isadora (Karel Reisz, 1968) o Nijinsky (Herbert Ross, 1980), donde se impone una representación idealizada del genio creador que se enfrenta a los convencionalismos que le rodean. Frente a esta imagen poetizada del coreógrafo, la película All that Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979), cercana temporalmente a las dos mencionadas, muestra un personaje absolutamente humano en sus imperfecciones. Por esta razón, la obra más personal de Fosse se convierte en un buen punto de origen para el estudio de la representación del coreógrafo en el cine y para entender la forma en la que la gran pantalla ha representado la danza y a sus creadores.; Dance has been a common ingredient in films ever since the creation of cinema; nonetheless, films focussing on its makers are but an exception. Some of these exceptions would be films such as Isadora (Karen Reisz, 1968) or Nijinsky (Herbert Ross, 1980), where it is normal to see portrayed an ideal representation of the creative genius that faces the mediocrity surrounding him. Opposing these poetical images of the choreographer, All that Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979), released around the same time as the mentioned ones, shows an absolutely human character in his imperfections. That’s why Fosse’s most personal work becomes a great starting point for the study of the representation of the choreographer in cinema and to understand the way dance and its creators has been represented in the movies