Interviews
Here a selection of the interviews I conducted as editor-in-chief of KoozArch magazine:
Towards a Posthuman Architecture with Francesca Ferrando
A video interview with philosopher Francesca Ferrando on the invisible connection between Posthumanist philosophy and Architecture.
Francesca Ferrando, a leading voice in the fields of Posthuman and Gender Studies, traces for the first time the invisible connection between Posthumanist philosophy and Architecture. In a video interview with Francesca Romana Forlini she outlines the foundations of new, fruitful interdisciplinary exchange that combines ecological consciousness and new technological advancements, and ultimately paves the way to new architectural design approaches. In specific, Ferrando challenges the notion of the subject and opens to diversity and “otherness” simultaneously pushing the boundaries of anthropocentric spatial thinking and anticipating what a “Posthumanist Architecture” should look like. Ferrando's effort in making her philosophy accessible to designers is a precious contribution to the contemporary debate on the future of architectural design in light of the current climate crisis.
A conversation with Do Ho Suh on the mutability of his work, its relation to architecture and the implications of collaborative art.
Working across a multiplicity of media, Do Ho Suh is constantly testing the possibilities of scale, materiality, and identity. Interested in the interactions between body and art, memory and space, his art explores, plays and subverts pre-established boundaries. In this interview, which coincides with Artland — a work he co-created with his children, currently exhibited at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art — Do Ho Suh shares his thoughts on place and displacement, the contrast between Western rigidity and Eastern flexibility, cultural colonisation, imperialism, the importance of continuous experimentation and what it means to do away with individuality in the art world.
Andrés Jaque on his participation within the 6th Tallinn Architecture Biennale exhibition "Edible", his understanding of a post-anthropocentric architecture and the future of the discipline.
The very foundations of architecture are rapidly changing, in this interview the head of OFFPOLINN and the newly appointed Dean of Columbia GSAPP Andrés Jaque tackles this challenging and pressing topic. He believes that architects should concentrate on establishing forms of care between humans and towards non-humans. The radically political architecture that emerges from these relations is then plural, hence takes into consideration a variety of living and non-living actors – as in the case of his Rambla Climate-House Project. It is also transscalar and connects, for instance, the geological to the microscopic – as in the case of his Transspecies Kitchen exhibited in this year's Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB). The new understanding of a post-anthropocentric architecture discussed in this interview also suggests original considerations on the present and future of domesticity, a central topic in Jaque’s research, and inspires his present and future action as Dean at Columbia University.
A conversation with Germane Barnes on his historical and critical investigation on architecture in connection with identity and domesticity.
American architect and researcher Germane Barnes discusses with us the role that identity and domesticity play in his work, along with the role that overlooked narratives of marginalised identities play in his research, architectural practice and pedagogy. His political and delicate approach towards the mundane is supported by his use of various media to disseminate his research, ranging from videos to collage. The latter characterises his work on the architectural order and his criticism of the erasure of Africans’ contribution to Western architectural history, proposing an alternative Columnar Disorder that will certainly inspire new generations of architectural historians.
A conversation with Cave_bureau on their pedagogic approach along with their critical involvement with the subject of caves and the Anthropocene.
KoozArch interviews Cave_bureau’s Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi to discuss the office’s pedagogic approach along with its continuous multidisciplinary and critical involvement with the subject of caves and the Anthropocene, introducing their radical position towards a more-than-human history of architecture. In this conversation they outline the specificities of nuanced oral African readings of a place and people, along with their overcoming of anti-colonial theory to embrace the planetary debate on the living and non-living, with a focus on geology and anthropogenic traces in caves. They also expand on their post-pandemic, critical pedagogic agenda brought forward at Columbia University’s GSAPP, with a focus on two caves in New York, in the Island of Manhattan Island, specifically Ramble Cave in Central Park and the cave at Inwood Hill Park.
Architecture’s Transmedial (Hi)stories and the Metaverse - Caroline Jones
A conversation with MIT Professor Caroline Jones on the role of Transmedia Storytelling in spatial design.
With the “Transmedia Storytelling Initiative” MIT Professor Caroline Jones is pioneering the critical and scholarly debate on Architecture’s engagement with Transmediality and the Metaverse. We discussed with her the role that Transmedia Storytelling plays not only in spatial design but also in expanding architectural histories and theories. Architects’ increasing use of numerous platforms and software tools for the design of virtual spaces make them central players in the design of the Metaverse, but Jones calls for a “critical resistance” to the marketing forces that drive it, and calls, instead, for a critical and reflective approach to virtual world-making.
Inhabiting the Planet: Future Models - Lydia Kallipoliti
A conversation with TAB 2022 chief curator Lydia Kallipoliti on the main topics tackled in the curatorial exhibition EDIBLE and the foundations of the CIRCULAR BLOCK Vision Competition.
KoozArch’s partnership with the Tallinn Architecture Biennale on the occasion of the "Edible; Or the Architecture of Metabolism" exhibition continues with an interview with chief curator Lydia Kallipoliti. During the opening in Tallinn we discussed with her the main topics tackled in the curatorial exhibition EDIBLE, from the curatorial multi-scalar approach to metabolism in architecture, the future of planetary inhabitation, cookbooks and manuals, archaeologies of food, along with the foundations and shortcomings of the CIRCULAR BLOCK Vision Competition.
Towards a Future Food Deal - Areti Markopoulou
On the occasion of the official opening of the Tallinn Architecture Biennale, we discussed with chief curator Areti Markopoulou the Future Food Deal competition and the urge to reimagine planetary food systems.
Curated by Lydia Kallipoliti and Areti Markopoulou, the 2022 edition of the Tallinn Architecture Biennale titled "Edible; Or, the Architecture of Metabolism" aims at engaging "architects, planners, and environmental designers to develop a proactive stance on architecture’s expressive capacity to perform circular operations, to produce resources -generate food and energy- as well as to decompose itself" to reimagine the logic behind circular economies. On the occasion of the official opening in Tallinn, we discussed with chief curator Areti Markopoulou about the Future Food Deal call for proposals and the urge to reimagine planetary food systems.
Game designer Pietro Righi Riva on the curation of “Game Collection Vol. 2”, the synergies between architectural and game design and the potential of interactive environments within society.
In this interview with game designer Pietro Righi Riva we discussed his curation of “Game Collection Vol. 2”, part of the 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition, the successful synergies between architectural and game design and how the virtual worlds it proposes can trigger critical thinking on real-life issues. This rich conversation introduces critical reflections on 3D worldmaking beyond games’ design, including the Metaverse and how it reproduces vicious profit-driven logics rather than positively contributing to society.
