Dancing in the Streets - a design case study

How do you transform a city center at night to enhance the experience of residents and visitors and to combat the public’s fears over safety and security after dark? This challenge was set by the York City Council’s “Renaissance Project: Illuminating York,” and we took them up on it. We made it our goal to get pedestrians to engage with our interactive light installation—and to get them dancing without even realizing it. People out shopping or on their way to restaurants and nightclubs found themselves followed by ghostly footprints, chased by brightly colored butterflies, playing football with balls of light, or linked together by a “cat’s cradle” of colored lines. As they moved within the light projections, participants found that they were literally dancing in the street

Istorija ir struktūra

  „Histoire et structure“ (in Histoire et psychanalyse entre science et fiction) de Michel de Certeau © University of Minnesota Press, 1986 amerikietiškam leidimui; © Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1987 pirmajam prancūziškajam leidimui ir kitiems anglų kalba pasirodžiusiems leidimams; 2002 antrajam pataisytam ir papildytam leidimui „Un chemin non tracé“ par Luce Giard ir 2016 pasirodžiusiam pataisytam ir papildytam leidimui

Towards a new theory of practice for community health psychology

The article sets out the value of theorizing collective action from a social science perspective that engages with the messy actuality of practice. It argues that community health psychology relies on an abstract version of Paulo Freire’s earlier writing, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which provides scholar-activists with a ‘map’ approach to collective action. The article revisits Freire’s later work, the Pedagogy of Hope, and argues for the importance of developing a ‘journey’ approach to collective action. Theories of practice are discussed for their value in theorizing such journeys, and in bringing maps (intentions) and journeys (actuality) closer together

Fishing in Puddles, Place and Space in Performance Research

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Piasecka, S. (2014). Fishing in Puddles, Place and Space in Performance Research. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 33(2), 235-241. DOI: 10.1111/j.1476-8070.2014.01771.x, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-8070.2014.01771.x/abstract. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingThis article examines the significance of place and space from a Performance Studies and Social Studies perspective. In terms of the social sciences, I draw upon the formal, symbolic and marginal articulation of place. Hetherington suggests that certain places act as focal point for the establishment of social identities, citing city-centre landmarks and shopping malls. Similarly, children attach all kinds of values to the formal spaces they occupy. As one example of this point, I examine the child’s relationship to the school hall. From the perspective of performance, I examine a project undertaken at a junior school in Stoke-on-Trent, inspired by the site work of Wrights & Sites. As a critical lens, I adopt Boal’s understanding of the oneiric dimension. The oneiric dimension is particularly relevant in performance work as these are the moments when we (as performers and spectators) are pulled into the action. In these instances, the physical space simply disappears, imagination replaces actuality and the desire to believe outweighs the reality of the present

The tactical mimicry of social enterprise strategies: acting ‘as if’ in the everyday life of third sector organizations

Using England as a paradigmatic case of the „enterprising up ‟ of the third sector through social enterprise policies and programs, this article sheds light on resistance as enacted through dramaturgical identification with government strategies. Drawing from a longitudinal qualitative research study, which is interpreted via Michel de Certeau‟s theory of the everyday, we present the case study of Teak, a charitable regeneration company, to illustrate how its Chief Executive Liam „acted as ‟ a social entrepreneur in order to gain access to important resources. We establish „tactical mimicry ‟ as a sensitizing concept to suggest that third sector practitioners ‟ identification with the normative premises of „social enterprise ‟ is part of a parasitical prosaics geared toward appropriating public money. While tactical mimicry conforms to strategies only in order to exploit them, its ultimate aim is to increase potentials of collective agency outside the direct influence of power. The contribution we make is threefold: first, we extend the recent debate on productive resistance by highlighting how „playing the game ‟ without changing existing relations of power can nevertheless produce largely favorable outcomes. Second, we suggest that recognition of the productive potential of tactical mimicry requires methodologies which pay attention to the spatial and temporal dynamics of resistance. And third, we argue that explaining „social enterprise‟ without consideration of the non-discursive, mainly financial resources made available to those who identify with it, necessarily risks overlooking a crucial element of the dramaturgical dynamic of discourse

We are Designers Because We Can Abstract

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityDue to the increasing systems complexity, architecture design became an important issue. It gained interest and its importance was framed in three domains: as a way to understand complex systems, to design them, to manage their manufacturing process and to provide long-term rationality. The purpose of this paper is, firstly, to survey the existing definition approaches on architecture. Secondly, we propose a model for architecture design which articulates the potential linkage between two principle concepts: synthesis and abstraction. Our proposal model focuses on abstraction concept and permits an effective top-down design approach. It helps also designers to more respond to issues that characterize architecture design.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

Displaying desire and distinction in housing

The article discusses the significance of cultural capital for the understanding of the field of housing in contemporary Britain. It explores the relationship between housing and the position of individuals in social space mapped out by means of a multiple correspondence analysis. It considers the material aspects of housing and the changing contexts that are linked to the creation and display of desire for social position and distinction expressed in talk about home decoration as personal expression and individuals' ideas of a `dream house'. It is based on an empirical investigation of taste and lifestyle using nationally representative survey data and qualitative interviews. The article shows both that personal resources and the imagination of home are linked to levels of cultural capital, and that rich methods of investigation are required to grasp the significance of these normally invisible assets to broaden the academic understanding of the field of housing in contemporary culture

Die absolute Lektüre: Theorie und Praxis der christlichen Mystiker im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert

Mit der Lektüre, die ich als »absolut«, im Sinne von abwesend oder losgelöst, bestimme, soll nicht jegliche Art von Lektüre bezeichnet sein. Diese »Losgelöstheit« bezieht sich nur auf eine unter vielen Varianten des Lesens, und sie erlaubt mir, auf einen Aspekt der Beziehung, die wir zum Buch, diesem Garten geordneter Zeichen, unterhalten, näher einzugehen: Was bewerkstelligt der Leser mit diesem mit Schriftzeichen tätowierten Ding? Die Loslösung des Lesers Wenn ich mich hier mit der Tätigke..