2011 » Australia » Architecture Section

Curator:	David Burns
Authors of Theme:	Sam Spurr, Adrian Lahoud
Designer / Architect of exhibition:	David Burns
Institution:	School of Design - University of Technology Sydney, Australia

How to be a Good Witness

Communication is an invitation to misinterpret the other. Linguistic translation circles around this impossibility: Caught between verisimilitude and sense, it attempts to reconcile both, knowing it cannot fully capture either. The space between different languages is mirrored in the gap between different forms of artistic and spatial practice. Making a map between a heterogeneous series of different intents (drawings, photos, performance, texts) is never a simple matter, while the map that emerges resembles the cartography of unexplored continents, filled with blank spaces and riddled with blind spots. Our project involves a game of “Chinese Whispers” at the scale of the city, structured around the impossibility of making a map of the city and its streets, between people and their artistic practice. The blank spaces are not understood as empty zones to be bridged; rather, they are filled with productive potential. They become spaces for a type of translation based in fantasy and speculation. At the largest scale, the project is a machine for procurement, recording and distribution. Its object is the scenographic potential of the city. At the scale of each node, a single participant is installed in the machine and caught in a circuit of invitation, translation and communication with his or her neighbours. Their objective is to make a singular point in the city.