In Architectures of Time, Sanford Kwinter offers a critical guide to the modern history of time and to the interplay between the physical sciences and the arts. Tracing the transformation of twentieth-century epistemology to the rise of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, Kwinter explains how the demise of the concept of absolute time, and of the classical notion of space as a fixed background against which things occur, led to field theory and a physics of the "event." He suggests that the closed, controlled, and mechanical world of physics gave way to the approximate, active, and qualitative world of biology as a model of both scientific and metaphysical explanation. Kwinter examines theory of time and space in Einstein's theories of relativity and shows how these ideas were reflected in the writings of the sculptor Umberto Boccioni, the town planning schema of the Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and the writings of Franz Kafka. He argues that the writings of Boccioni and the visionary architecture of Sant'Elia represent the earliest and most profound deployments of the concepts of field and event. In discussing Kafka's work, he moves away from the thermodynamic model in favor of the closely related one of Bergsonian dureé, or virtuality. He argues that Kafka's work manifests a coherent cosmology that can be understood only in relation to the constant temporal flux that underlies it.

Architectures of Time: Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture

Politics & Social Sciences

Kwinter, Sanford

Philosophy

Mit Pr

An exploration of twentieth-century conceptions of time and their relation to artistic form.
In Architectures of Time, Sanford Kwinter offers a critical guide to the modern history of time and to the interplay between the physical sciences and the arts. Tracing the transformation of twentieth-century epistemology to the rise of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, Kwinter explains how the demise of the concept of absolute time, and of the classical notion of space as a fixed background against which things occur, led to field theory and a physics of the "event." He suggests that the closed, controlled, and mechanical world of physics gave way to the approximate, active, and qualitative world of biology as a model of both scientific and metaphysical explanation.
Kwinter examines theory of time and space in Einstein's theories of relativity and shows how these ideas were reflected in the writings of the sculptor Umberto Boccioni, the town planning schema of the Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and the writings of Franz Kafka. He argues that the writings of Boccioni and the visionary architecture of Sant'Elia represent the earliest and most profound deployments of the concepts of field and event. In discussing Kafka's work, he moves away from the thermodynamic model in favor of the closely related one of Bergsonian duree, or virtuality. He argues that Kafka's work manifests a coherent cosmology that can be understood only in relation to the constant temporal flux that underlies it.

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

MIT Press]

Tony Scherman's Chasing Napolean presents a remarkable tour de force: a cycle of monumentally scaled portraits of Napolean Bonaparte, each of which depicts Napolean at a psychologically charged, life-determining juncture. Confronting the challenge of producing an accurate likeness of an historical figure whose reign preceded the age of photography, Scherman metaphorically chronicles the life of Napolean using only the image of his face. Battlefield genius, despotic emperor, megalomaniac conqueror, derided hero - each of these incarnations of Napolean flickers through Scherman's paintings, invoking the flash of charisma as quickly as this is complicated by dark and conflicting undertones. The book contains three texts: Jacques Henric provides a dynamic account of the cultural and historical importance of Scherman's work and the frame of reference from which it springs. Hans Belting and David Moos discuss the specific project and the execution of the Napolean series, and an interview with Stanford Kwinter and Bruce Mau illuminates the artist's motivation, practice, and concerns.

Tony Scherman: Chasing Napoleon: Forensic P

Belting, Hans

Scherman, Tony

Moos, David

Henric, Jacques

Individual Artists

Cameron Hollis

From an i-MAC computer to a Karim Rashid trashcan to a Philippe Starck stool to an Issey Miyake coat to a Frank Gehry building, design shapes our sense of being in today's world. Mood River examines the cornucopia of objects that form the complex visual fabric of our lives, titillate our senses, modulate our moods, and pique our desires. By scanning contemporary art and design, and loosely organizing thousands of sundry objects into four categories of moods--Bliss, Ecstasy, Rage, and Trauma--Mood River aims to arouse a deep respect for the complex economic, technical, and aesthetic processes that join the diverse elements of our material life into that most elusive of unities: a world.

Mood River

JOHNSON, Philip

Emin, Tracey

Kipnis, Jeff

Oubrerie, Jose

Perlman, Chee

Wexner Center for the Arts

Energy and design are currently imprisoned within a narrow framework of commonplaces, moral mediocrity, and outright error. Yet the platitudes that ensue from it continue to claim the attention of both the discipline and the fields of urbanism and design.The book’s hope is to foster a new ethos in design methods and new directions for practice that address the actual capacities and behaviors of the world we live in. Through a variety of short texts on subjects from the history of the sciences and philosophies of energy, as well as an array of examples of current work and historical phenomena, this book positions energy not as an ameliorating appendage but as a central instigator of radical, di cult and sometimes deliriously inventive new modes of practice and thought for current and future generations of students.With contributions by: Michelle Addington, Pierre Belanger, Luis Bettencourt, Manuel De Landa, Nicholas De Monchaux, John May, Olafur Eliasson, Mark Waisiuta, Iñaki Ábalos, Sanford Kwinter and Kiel Moe.

What is Energy and How We Might Think About it?

Science & Math

Moe, Kiel

Physics

Actar

Stunning and innovative architecture is the hallmark of the firm Coop Himmelb(l)au; their exciting new project, the BMW complex in Munich known as BMW Welt, exhibits the same characteristics. Combining the latest technical and environmentally conscious elements, the new building will serve as a conference centre, cultural venue and delivery outpost for custom-made cars. It will also feature restaurants, lounges and opportunities for visitors to gain access to the inner workings of the BMW factory. This handsomely illustrated volume details the conception and construction of BMW Welt and includes photographs, architectural plans, and sketches along with an interview by Coop Himmelb(l)au's principal architect Wolf D. Prix.

Dynamic Forces: Coop Himmelb(L)Au : BMW Welt Munich

Reference

Prestel Pub

Mutations (French Edition)

KOOLHAAS, Rem

OBRIST, Hans-Ulrich

Boeri, Stefano

Fabricius, Daniela

Tazi, Nadia

EDITORIAL ACTAR

Sanford Kwinter ponders the complex encounters between technology, culture, and architecture. Critical essays offer an extended meditation on infrastructure, war, computation, mechanical and material intelligence, and other multivariate facets of modernity. Far-reaching in scope, Far from Equilibrium amounts to a performance in writing of what Kwinter describes as radical anamnesis: the imagination's escape from the sterile logic of what is. Compiling over a decade of architectural and critical writings, many published here for the first time, Far From Equilibrium is essential reading for anyone interested in the state of architecture and criticism today. A primer for (re)thinking design in the 21st century.

Neuland: The future of German Graphic Design, dt. Ausgabe

In an old printing shop in Rotterdam, MVRDV produces designs and studies in the fields of architecture, urbanism, and landscape design. Founded in Rotterdam in 1991 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries, MVRDV has become a household name in the Netherlands and beyond. With experimental research projects and mind-bending architecture, MVRDV has carved itself a niche in the international scene over the past 10 years. Classic projects include the gravity-defying WoZoCo old age home in Amsterdam, the headquarters for public broadcasting company VPRO in Hilversum, the Dutch pavilion for World Expo 2000 in Hanover, and the recently completed Housing Silo in Amsterdam. The firm's experimental research projects on density, using a method of shaping space through complex amounts of data, have resulted in the publication FARMAX, the traveling exhibition Metacity/Datatown, and Pig City and Costa Iberica. This publication examines the context of MVRDV's research-based thinking and radical design strategies. Texts by a number of international critics, philosophers, and architects probe into the whys and wherefores of MVRDV's architecture, the potential of the data-scapes, and the secret of the firm's success. Contributors compare MVRDV with other generations of architects and describe how new concepts are born.

MVRDV: Reads

BETSKY, AARON

Steele, Brett

Lootsma, Bart

Maas, Winy

Attali, Jean

De Carter, Lieven

Guimenx, Alain

Ruby, Andreas

Architecture

NAi Publishers

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