Image, Text, Architecture
The Utopics of the Architectural Media
Published on 9. March 2016
252 pages
978-1-317-11886-2 (ISBN)
Description
Image, Text, Architecture brings a radical and detailed analysis of the modern and contemporary architectural media, addressing issues of architectural criticism, architectural photography and the role of journal editors. It covers examples as diverse as an article by British artist Paul Nash in The Architectural Review, 1940, an early project by French architects Lacaton & Vassal published in the journal 2G, 2001, and recent photography by Hisao Suzuki for the Spanish journal El Croquis. At the intersection of image and text the book also reveals the role of the utopian impulse within the architectural media, drawing on theories of utopian discourse from the work of the French semiotician and art theorist Louis Marin, and the American Marxist critic Fredric Jameson. Through this it builds a fresh theoretical approach to journal studies, revealing a hitherto unexplored dimension of "latent" or "unconscious" discourse within the media portrait of architecture. The purpose of this enquiry is to highlight moments where a different type of critical voice emerges on the architectural journal page, indicating the possibility of a more progressive engagement with the media as a platform for critical and speculative thinking about architecture, and to rethink the journals' role within architectural history.
Reviews / Votes
"With critical sharpness and aesthetic attentiveness, Robin Wilson treads the elusive yet restrained territory of the architectural journal page. Through a materially inquisitive process of de-editing and re-assembling, Wilson unfolds an unsettling and revitalising u-topics challenging ingrained ideas of architectural representation, revealing the performative capabilities of the journal page as the disturbing and indeterminate elsewhere of a complex architectural present." - Maria Hellstrm Reimer, University, Sweden and The Swedish Design Faculty for Design Research and Research Education"In his new book on architectural media, Image, Text, Architecture, Robin Wilson develops carefully-nuanced readings of a series of case-studies, ranging from a 1940 article by the artist Paul Nash in The Architectural Review to Hisao Suzuki's photography for the Spanish publication El Croquis. Whilst focused on the construction of individual journal pages, Wilson's expansive discussion brings much to bear upon this, drawing upon recent visual and literary theory in subtle and often surprising ways. Central here is Louis Marin's influential post-structuralist account of utopic discourse, with which Wilson works to develop sophisticated arguments about the meanings and effects of specific presentational strategies. Image, Text, Architecture not only draws our attention to something habitually overlooked, but also gives us a powerful way of thinking about it." - Mark Dorrian, University of Edinburgh, UK
"... we are led from the surface of the page into its depths, emerging equipped to reassess the surface as a whole. As such Wilson's work sits in somthing of a field of its own making." - Jon Astbury, Architectural Review
"Robin Wilson has offered a gem cut by the contradictory expressions that exist between image and text. Treated to a magnificent display of knowledge, the reader's eyes glide easily across two hundred pages, encountering on the way precise descriptions and interesting relevations. There is even something of a challenge in the way the Author boldly addresses his subject matter, further adding to the credibility and force of his words." - Silivia Blanco Agueeira, The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 23, No. 7
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Reflowable
File size
8,39 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-317-11886-2 (9781317118862)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2017
1st Edition
Routledge
€81.89
Shipment within 10-20 days
Book
08/2015
1st Edition
Routledge
€215.41
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Robin Wilson works at the intersection of architecture and art through the writing of criticism and theory, curatorship and collaborative practice. He teaches history and theory of architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
Content
Introduction; Chapter 1 Utopic Method; Chapter 2 Editorial Projects and Figural Projections; Chapter 3 A Present Presence; Chapter 4 'Now, this square is beautiful'; Chapter 5 Articles of Landscape, the Ruin and the 'Foreign'; Chapter 6 Of 'Delegate Figures' and 'Magic Light'; Chapter 101 Conclusion;
