City
22nd March 2020
Written before Macron's lock-down, of course, Jeremy Allan Hawkins observed that Parisians were walking through their city again. But did he see the same type of dilly-dallying, louche, truth-seeking, urban hanger-on as Baudelaire's flaneur? Or the existential and psycho-geographical explorers of Guy Debord's Situationists? Not quite...
21st March 2020
The tragic slowness of our reaction to the coronavirus and the putting of systematic safety measures in place has contrasted with the relatively swift and mature reaction of the French (and other nations) to this emergency. But is it a sign of a wider conservative and sclerotic inability to act that has taken hold of our society? How could we measure these things? Clarisse Godard Desmarest sets the ball rolling with a description of the terrible fires at both Notre Dame in Paris and Glasgow School of Art, and the reaction of the authorities in each case.
19th March 2020
The introduction to Benjamin’s Arcades Project, was written in 1938 but not published until long after his death. It is an attempt to categorically reveal how, through the apparent chaos and convulsions in 19th century Parisian culture and society, great explorations and exposés of the realities of the epoch and its ramifications for later generations, are afforded us by examination of the lives and works of its inhabitants.
27th November 2019
When Marc Augé wrote in The Future that ‘Every protest is a form of research’ he could have been describing the artwork(s) / protest / civil disobedience / celebration / sit-in that was […]
11th November 2019
The principle of self-government of provinces is at the heart of the concept of 'Federation', and ‘The grassroots’ is for many, an inherently leftist, liberal construct. Yet as Andrea Gibbons shows, the white supremacists who shaped the growth of Los Angeles force us to reassess out assumptions over the innate virtues of ‘participation’ .
7th October 2019
Jasmina Cibic | An Atmosphere of Joyful Contemplation has to be one of the most powerfully expressive political artists working in Europe today. How much she owes that to her origins […]
22nd August 2019
Why was it that in the nineteenth century for such a great percentage of the population it suddenly became no longer a privilege to live in the city (as opposed […]
20th August 2019
Some of the best –most provocative and enlightening – writers on social justice and the politics and economics of the city and urban and civil space over the past couple […]
Traveller crime – or a crime to Travellers? by Candace G. Thomas