#30 Virtual space
E-scape architecture: into the cybernetic picturesque
Why the talk is inspiring?
Landscape is malleable – it has been reshaped and reformed relentlessly over centuries, resulting in – for good and bad – the imprints and legacies of mankind we now contend with. The expanding digital realm offers endless opportunity for new architectures not dependent upon the damage, limitations, economies, or boundaries old-fashioned physicality is limited by – a literal utopia. But such digital imaginaries are inextricably linked to analogue realities, and as we visualise and tiptoe into the cybernetic picturesque, perhaps we should learn from how the original picturesque framed, concealed, and violently compressed reality to suit somebody else’s vision.
2023
Speaker
Will Jennings
How the speaker is exceptional?
Will Jennings is a writer, educator and artist based in London, interested in how arts and architectures intersect. He is editor of online arts and architecture writing platform recessed.space as well as writing widely for publications including Architectural Record, Wallpaper*, Art Monthly and RIBA Journal. He teaches at UCL Bartlett School of Architecture and the University of Greenwich, is director of arts charity Hypha Studios, and is a member of the Association of International Art Critics.
RECOMMENDS TO READ
The invention of the park
Karen R. Jones, John Wills
Why the book is worth reading?
The Invention of the Park explores our fascination with making parks. In a broad-ranging environmental and social history, authors Karen Jones and John Wills search for a common set of ideas that inform park design. From Greek philosophers wandering sacred groves in the ancient world to today’s kids watching Mickey Mouse in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, the park has inspired and thrilled in equal measure. In a work spanning all five continents and several thousand years, Jones and Wills chart the evolution of the park idea.
