#eHTC #cementconcrete #envhum
#rogue
#PCBnA
Investigación desde abajo. Violencia lenta y disputa por la superficie de una hoja
Edumeet 4 “Ecotopies.” International Conference of Architecture and Transdisciplinarity 2024. Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM); Centro Producción del Espacio / Núcleo de Lenguaje y Creación, Universidad de las Américas (UDLA)
04/23/24Writing
w/ Luis Alejandro Sánchez Rivera
For a year, the Experiments in
History, Theory, and Criticism program (eHTC) developed an initial
theoretical, ecological, and political framework surrounding the special
environments related to limestone mining and cement production, focusing on a
Holcim processing plant in Costa Rica. This article contextualizes the
fieldwork conducted in a forest adjacent to the factory, the collection of
samples, and the creation of a photographic archive discussed in 9 collective researches
presented under the title Paisajes de
Cementación y Biografías no autorizadas (Landscapes of Cementation and Unauthorized Biographies or PCBnA, by
its acronym in Spanish, 2023-2024). This article analyzes archive documents
through the conceptual, technical, and aesthetic frameworks of slow violence (Rob Nixon), visual and
material representation (Susan Schuppli, Hannah Meszaros Martin), speculating
on their potential as a miniature, accelerated model of the ongoing contest
between contemporary life and non-living materials for the surface of the
planet. Ultimately, this article contextualizes the collective academic research
PCBnA –and its continuation as para-academic research– in the face of the
agencies of corporate and academic power against which it was developed, and
highlights the importance of a research-from-below approach to pedagogical practices in architecture. [Translated excerpt] See more ↗