Sensing Spaces:A Body-oriented Architectural Design Education

The contemporary dominance of visuality has turned our understanding of space into a mode of unidirectional experience that externalizes other sensual capacities of the body while perceiving the built environment. This affects not only architectural practice but also architectural education when an introduction to the concept of space is often challenging, especially for the students who have limited spatial and sensual training. Considering that an architectural work is not perceived as a series of retinal pictures but as a repeated multi-sensory experience, the problem definitions in the design studio need to be disengaged from the dominance of a ‘focused vision’ and be re-constructed in a holistic manner. A method to address this approach is to enable the students to refer to their own sensual experiences of the built environment as a part of their design processes. This paper focuses on a particular approach to the second year architectural design teaching which has been followed in the Department of Architecture at Izmir University of Economics for the last three years. The very first architectural project of the studio and the program, entitled ‘Sensing Spaces’, is conducted as a multi-staged design process including ‘sense games, analyses of organs and their interpretations into space’. The objectives of this four-week project are to explore the sense of space through the design of a three-dimensional assembly, to create an awareness of the significance of the senses in the design process and to experiment with re-interpreted forms of bodily parts. Hence, the students are encouraged to explore architectural space through their ‘tactile, olfactory, auditory, gustative and visual stimuli’. In this paper, based on a series of examples, architectural space is examined beyond its boundaries of structure, form and function, and spatial design is considered as an activity of re-constructing the built environment through the awareness of bodily senses.

Virtual (dis) connectivities : mobile intimacy and presence for women in long distance relationships

Nous vivons dans une époque où la mobilité internationale est une pratique très courante; ainsi, de plus en plus de partenaires doivent maintenir leurs relations à distance. Le phénomène va de pair avec le développement des nouvelles technologies, qui introduisent de nouvelles formes et de pratiques pour maintenir l’intimité. Cela soulève des questions sur les pratiques de connexion (ou déconnexion) lorsque les couples sont séparés par la distance et le temps. Ce mémoire propose d’explorer comment les femmes dans des relations amoureuses à distance utilisent divers modes d’expression (visuels, textuels, oraux et tactiles) ainsi que plusieurs sens à travers de multiples technologies mobiles, qui lui permettent de reconstruire la présence et l’intimité avec l’autre. Inspiré par le new mobilities paradigm (Sheller & Urry, 2006), ainsi que les concepts de mobile intimacy (Hjorth & Lim, 2012; Elliott & Urry, 2010) et la présence imaginée (Chayko, 2002; Elliott & Urry, 2010), je propose les notions de (dé) connectivité virtuelle, le lieu virtuel, ainsi que la présence/absence technologique. Utilisant une approche méthodologique mixte, venant des données d’entrevues semi-dirigées, de l’autoethnographie, de la recherche création et de journaux de bord multimédias, certaines pratiques de contrôle et de surveillance, des formes émergentes de travail, l’immédiateté et la réciprocité émergent dans une époque d’interconnectivité.

Espacio social : Aportes para una definición del concepto y su posible relación con el arte

En el presente trabajo proponemos avanzar de un modo crítico en horizontes teóricos, tanto desde la geografía urbana como desde la geografía política, para abordar el concepto de espacio. Para ello, analizamos las contribuciones de Henri Lefebvre, Milton Santos y Doreen Massey guiándonos por las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cómo definen estos autores al espacio y qué características le atribuyen? ¿Qué aportes realizan para problematizar la noción de espacio físico? A partir de esta indagación, arribamos a la consideración de que el espacio, lejos de concebirse en términos atemporales, objetivos, fijos y apolíticos, es una construcción histórico social que posee un carácter político al estar atravesado por relaciones de poder. Asimismo, sostenemos que la presencia del espacio en las prácticas sociales, entre ellas las acciones artísticas (objeto de nuestro interés), no es sólo contextual, por lo que excede a la idea de simple emplazamiento, telón de fondo o escenario donde transcurren los hechos. De esta manera, consideramos que estas indagaciones aportan un marco analítico significativo para comprender la centralidad que tiene la valoración, construcción y disputa del espacio por parte de numerosas prácticas. ;En síntesis, arribamos a la conclusión de que el espacio es a la vez productor y producto. Por ende, está en permanente cambio y las formas que adquiere son condición histórica y de posibilidad, y no una determinación, para los procesos sociales que allí se desarrollan. Cualquier manifestación social, entre ellas las artísticas, no se insertan en el espacio de forma "natural" sino que lo hacen de manera disruptiva, en lugares no esperados, con técnicas o mecanismos que apelan a descentrar, a movilizar los sentimientos y sentidos corporales, a despertar el interés, curiosidad, preguntas, cuestionamientos, entre otros. En este sentido, en el espacio construido socialmente confluyen cierta distribución del poder, el conflicto social y también las prácticas creativas que muchas veces se proponen generar operaciones contra esas dinámicas.

Espacio social : Aportes para una definición del concepto y su posible relación con el arte

En el presente trabajo proponemos avanzar de un modo crítico en horizontes teóricos, tanto desde la geografía urbana como desde la geografía política, para abordar el concepto de espacio. Para ello, analizamos las contribuciones de Henri Lefebvre, Milton Santos y Doreen Massey guiándonos por las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cómo definen estos autores al espacio y qué características le atribuyen? ¿Qué aportes realizan para problematizar la noción de espacio físico? A partir de esta indagación, arribamos a la consideración de que el espacio, lejos de concebirse en términos atemporales, objetivos, fijos y apolíticos, es una construcción histórico social que posee un carácter político al estar atravesado por relaciones de poder. Asimismo, sostenemos que la presencia del espacio en las prácticas sociales, entre ellas las acciones artísticas (objeto de nuestro interés), no es sólo contextual, por lo que excede a la idea de simple emplazamiento, telón de fondo o escenario donde transcurren los hechos. De esta manera, consideramos que estas indagaciones aportan un marco analítico significativo para comprender la centralidad que tiene la valoración, construcción y disputa del espacio por parte de numerosas prácticas. ;En síntesis, arribamos a la conclusión de que el espacio es a la vez productor y producto. Por ende, está en permanente cambio y las formas que adquiere son condición histórica y de posibilidad, y no una determinación, para los procesos sociales que allí se desarrollan. Cualquier manifestación social, entre ellas las artísticas, no se insertan en el espacio de forma "natural" sino que lo hacen de manera disruptiva, en lugares no esperados, con técnicas o mecanismos que apelan a descentrar, a movilizar los sentimientos y sentidos corporales, a despertar el interés, curiosidad, preguntas, cuestionamientos, entre otros. En este sentido, en el espacio construido socialmente confluyen cierta distribución del poder, el conflicto social y también las prácticas creativas que muchas veces se proponen generar operaciones contra esas dinámicas.

Espacio social : Aportes para una definición del concepto y su posible relación con el arte

En el presente trabajo proponemos avanzar de un modo crítico en horizontes teóricos, tanto desde la geografía urbana como desde la geografía política, para abordar el concepto de espacio. Para ello, analizamos las contribuciones de Henri Lefebvre, Milton Santos y Doreen Massey guiándonos por las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cómo definen estos autores al espacio y qué características le atribuyen? ¿Qué aportes realizan para problematizar la noción de espacio físico? A partir de esta indagación, arribamos a la consideración de que el espacio, lejos de concebirse en términos atemporales, objetivos, fijos y apolíticos, es una construcción histórico social que posee un carácter político al estar atravesado por relaciones de poder. Asimismo, sostenemos que la presencia del espacio en las prácticas sociales, entre ellas las acciones artísticas (objeto de nuestro interés), no es sólo contextual, por lo que excede a la idea de simple emplazamiento, telón de fondo o escenario donde transcurren los hechos. De esta manera, consideramos que estas indagaciones aportan un marco analítico significativo para comprender la centralidad que tiene la valoración, construcción y disputa del espacio por parte de numerosas prácticas. ;En síntesis, arribamos a la conclusión de que el espacio es a la vez productor y producto. Por ende, está en permanente cambio y las formas que adquiere son condición histórica y de posibilidad, y no una determinación, para los procesos sociales que allí se desarrollan. Cualquier manifestación social, entre ellas las artísticas, no se insertan en el espacio de forma "natural" sino que lo hacen de manera disruptiva, en lugares no esperados, con técnicas o mecanismos que apelan a descentrar, a movilizar los sentimientos y sentidos corporales, a despertar el interés, curiosidad, preguntas, cuestionamientos, entre otros. En este sentido, en el espacio construido socialmente confluyen cierta distribución del poder, el conflicto social y también las prácticas creativas que muchas veces se proponen generar operaciones contra esas dinámicas.

Five senses digital stories

These digital stories were produced during a commercial research project with SLQ and Flying Arts. The works build on the research of Klaebe and Burgess related to variable workshop scenarios, and the institutional contexts of co-creative media. In this instance, research focused on the distributed digital storytelling workshop model; and the development of audiences for digital storytelling. The research team worked with regional artists whose work had been selected for inclusion in the Five Senses exhibition held at the State Library of Queensland to produce stories about their work; these works were then in turn integrated into the physical exhibition space. Location remoteness and timeline were factors in how the stories were made in a mix of individual meetings and remote correspondence (email &phone).

Engaging bodily with video in design

Video is commonly used as a method for recording embodied interaction for purposes of analysis and design and has been proposed as a useful ‘material’ for interaction designers to engage with. But video is not a straight forward reproduction of embodied activity – in themselves video recordings ‘flatten’ the space of embodied interaction, they impose a perspective on unfolding action, and remove the embodied spatial and social context within which embodied interaction unfolds. This does not mean that video is not a useful medium with which to engage as part of a process of investigating and designing for embodied interaction – but crucially, it requires that as people attempting to engage with video, designers own bodies and bodily understandings must be engaged with and brought into play. This paper describes and reflects upon our experiences of engaging with video in two different activities as part of a larger research project investigating the design of gestural interfaces for a dental surgery context.

Sensing place : embodiment, sensoriality, kinesis, and children behind the camera

This article is a call to literacy teachers and researchers to embrace the possibility of attending more consciously to the senses in digital media production. Literacy practices do not occur only in the mind, but involve the sensoriality, embodiment, co-presence, and movement of bodies. This paper theorises the sensorial and embodied dimension of children’s filmmaking about place in two communities in Australia. The films were created by pre-teen Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Logan, Queensland, and by Indigenous teenagers at the Warralong campus of the Strelley Community School in remote Western Australia. The films were created through engagement in cross-curricular units that sensitised the students’ experience of local places, gathering corporeal information through their sensing bodies as they interacted with the local ecology. The analysis highlights how the sensorial and bodily nature of literacy practice through documentary filmmaking was central to the children’s formation and representation of knowledge, because knowledge and literacy practices are not only acquired through the mind, but are also reliant on embodiment, sensoriality, co-presence, and kinesics of the body in place.

A glossary of bodily responses

A collaborative video with Avril Huddy where two viewpoints, performer and documenter, were presented simultaneously to investigate Arakawa and Gin’s notion of “boundary-swaying”. In this performance-work, the performer influences what the camera is able to capture by engaging the documenter in a form of improvised dance. The performer’s movements appear impulsive and unpredictable, testing ways for the documenter to frame the performer’s movement. The images revealed by the documenter’s camera reflect a complexity of moments and co-incidences, evoking a sense of the performer’s embodied thinking within improvised movement. While a second camera uses a conventional wide angle shot to document the unfolding of the performance-work and track the connection between the documenter and the performer. While the performance-work itself is still highly-experimental, the ideas underpinning this exploration suggest how future investigations integrating more sensitive technology such as motion capture and tracking devises may be investigated. This performance-work formed part of the Creative Response Exhibition curated by Alan Prohm, Bill Lavender and Jason Nelson and a peer-review committee as part of the proceedings of the AG3 Online: Third International Arakawa and Gins Architecture and Philosophy Conference, hosted by the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas at Griffith University.

Race, the senses, and the materials of writing practices

The paper is a critical argument foregrounding race, the senses, and the materials of literacy practices. The author argues that counter-colonial literacies in the contemporary times require openly acknowledgement of the influences of white imperialism and racism in dominant schooling practices. The first concern is narrow conceptions of literacy and schooling that follow a white racial script, and which function as a form of historical reproduction, control, and privilege. The second is the need to acknowledge the need to rediscover the sensory nature of literacy practices that is intrinsic to many cultures, and which is transformed in human interactions with new digital forms of textual production. The final argument is the need to attend to the materiality of literacy practices, including the meanings connected to the material ecology. This principle is particularly relevant to Indigenous culture and experience, but likewise, to all digital environments where the materials of literacy practices are continually shifting.

Prediction of the senses of helical amphiphilic assemblies from effective intermolecular pair potential: Studies on chiral monolayers and bilayers

It is well-known that the senses (or the handedness) of the helical assemblies formed from compressed monolayers and bilayers of chiral amphiphiles are highly specific about the chirality of the monomers concerned. We present here a molecular approach that can successfully predict the senses of such helical morphologies. The present approach is based on a reduced tractable description in terms of an effective pair potential (EPP) which depends on the distance of separation and the relative orientations of the two amphiphiles. This approach explicitly considers the pairwise intermolecular interactions between the groups attached to the chiral centers of the two neighboring amphiphiles. It is found that for a pair of the same kind of enantiomers the minimum energy configuration favors a twist angle between molecules and that this twist from neighbor to neighbor gives rise to the helicity of the aggregate. From the known twist angles at the minimum energy configuration the successive arrangement of an array of molecules can be predicted. Therefore, the sense of the helicity can be predicted from the molecular interactions. The predicted senses of the helical structures are in complete agreement with all known experimental results.

A representação da Educação Física na mídia televisiva

Esta pesquisa foca a imagem profissional do professor de educação física, considerando a notoriedade que essa profissão adquiriu na televisão ao longo dos últimos anos. O objetivo é explicitar alguns dos sentidos relacionados à abordagem da educação física presente no contexto de duas programações exibidas pela Rede Globo de televisão. A primeira foi retirada da décima oitava temporada da telenovela Malhação, e a segunda do quadro MEDIDA CERTA/ 90 DIAS PARA REPROGRAMAR O CORPO exibido pelo programa Fantástico no ano de 2011. A coleta dos dados ocorreu através do acesso ao site da emissora, que disponibiliza por um determinado tempo, os capítulos da telenovela, bem como as edições do quadro em foco. O método utilizado para nortear a análise do processo de produção dos sentidos foi o referencial teórico da Análise do Discurso segundo a perspectiva de Orlandi. Esse método nos permite percorrer trajetórias capazes de evidenciar sentidos explícitos e implícitos coexistentes no discurso. Assim foram trilhados caminhos específicos para compreensão de cada fenômeno, ou seja, para os dados retirados de Malhação lançamos mão da transcrição de diálogos, apresentação de cenas e consideração dos planos de câmera utilizados em sua produção. Para os dados provenientes do quadro MEDIDA CERTA, realizamos transcrição de falas e construímos categorias, que foram analisadas a partir de uma grade já existente, considerando o título, quem fala, o que é dito, o intermediário e as estratégias utilizadas para publicação do discurso. Quanto aos resultados, foi possível evidenciar que os sentidos relativos à educação física presentes na décima oitava temporada de Malhação foram inspirados basicamente no paradigma competitivo da área. Também foram conservados estereótipos ultrapassados acerca do profissional e da profissão, pois, os sentidos relativos ao professor de educação física idoso foram reduzidos à potencialização de características ligadas à desatualização. E no que confere aos resultados obtidos com a análise do segundo fenômeno, clarificamos que a educação física foi abordada com a utilização do discurso científico, a partir de estratégias pautadas no exemplo testado pelos jornalistas, e oferecidos aos telespectadores. A proposta presente no quadro MEDIDA CERTA colaborou para o entendimento de uma educação física baseada na perspectiva biológica, que se estabelece frente à imposição de um risco ao sujeito, se valorizando como fonte de salvação e encontrando-se fragmentada das questões sociais. As análises de ambos os fenômenos evidenciam significados que permeiam a educação física representada na mídia no atual momento histórico, propiciando também reflexões sobre alguns dos princípios que regem a elaboração de práticas corporais no âmbito da educação física.

α-Synuclein senses lipid packing defects and induces lateral expansion of lipids leading to membrane remodeling.

There is increasing evidence for the involvement of lipid membranes in both the functional and pathological properties of α-synuclein (α-Syn). Despite many investigations to characterize the binding of α-Syn to membranes, there is still a lack of understanding of the binding mode linking the properties of lipid membranes to α-Syn insertion into these dynamic structures. Using a combination of an optical biosensing technique and in situ atomic force microscopy, we show that the binding strength of α-Syn is related to the specificity of the lipid environment (the lipid chemistry and steric properties within a bilayer structure) and to the ability of the membranes to accommodate and remodel upon the interaction of α-Syn with lipid membranes. We show that this interaction results in the insertion of α-Syn into the region of the headgroups, inducing a lateral expansion of lipid molecules that can progress to further bilayer remodeling, such as membrane thinning and expansion of lipids out of the membrane plane. We provide new insights into the affinity of α-Syn for lipid packing defects found in vesicles of high curvature and in planar membranes with cone-shaped lipids and suggest a comprehensive model of the interaction between α-Syn and lipid bilayers. The ability of α-Syn to sense lipid packing defects and to remodel membrane structure supports its proposed role in vesicle trafficking.