Tower of Babel: men on scaffolding

Pieter Bruegel the Elder; oil on panel

Tower of Babel: clouds obscure a portion of the tower and scaffolding

Pieter Bruegel the Elder; oil on panel

Race at the Interface: Rendering Blackness on WorldStarHipHop.com

WorldStarHipHop.com (WSHH) is an online video aggregating website that describes itself as ���the premiere online hip hop destination��� and a home for ���urban media.��� Yet, browsing through the site provides little clarity on what constitutes a hip-hop video or urban Internet space because of the disparate video content, the actual racial diversity of the performers, and the website���s generic design. As a result, WSHH���s taglines make a strange claim about the current state of the black musical tradition. Through close readings of the site, this article considers the architecture of this space of interracial exchange and identifies the interface as an example of Modernist architectural simplicity. I argue WSHH���s modular design is flexible enough to include non-black bodies, while remaining a black ���urban��� space. Thus, the site���s straightforward architecture paradoxically becomes the scaffolding of a much more complex, de-corporealized, and ���shareable��� blackness.

A treatise on safety engineering as applied to scaffolds.

Mode of access: Internet.

Rackham Blg. [Building] construction

View facing north and cityscape. Framing for terrace room east end of building. Additional framing third floor west end. Scaffolding from east tower to building. No. 22 of chronological series of construction photographs, numbered 1 to 32. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. W.B. Wood Co., construction

Rackham Blg. [Building] construction

View toward north including cityscape. Limestone in progress on second floor. Roof is being prepared for finish. Finishing stonework on first floor. Additional scaffolding from east tower to roof. No. 24 of chronological series of construction photographs, numbered 1 to 32. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. W.B. Wood Co., construction

Rackham Blg. [Building] construction

View toward north. Additional stonework around windows on second floor. Hopper on east tower above scaffolding. No. 25 of chronological series of construction photographs, numbered 1 to 32. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. W.B. Wood Co., construction

Rackham Blg. [Building] construction

View toward north. Scaffolding in place on both east and west ends of building. Stonework on second floor near completion. No. 26 of chronological series of construction photographs, numbered 1 to 32. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. W.B. Wood Co., construction