matthew fuller on Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:44:02 +0100 (CET)


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[Nettime-nl] Taming urban monsters: Mexico City


Spaces of Uncertainty Closing Event Taming urban monsters:
Xochimilco<<Zocalo>> Tlateloco,

the re-emergence of three spaces of uncertainty in Mexico City

A lecture/presentation by Heidi Sohn at 66 East Saturday 19-02-2005
20:30


This short ‘talk’ will introduce the process of systematic [spatial]
classification as a way of  ‘taming’ [urban] monstrosity. It will do so
by analysing three ‘spaces’ in Mexico City, which despite of their
enormous differences, could be related to ‘uncertainty’ in various ways.



Until relatively recently, the conventional approach for urban spaces
that in one way or another defied the established conception of ‘order’,
was to treat them as spatial abnormalities: as a form of monstrosity.
Nowadays, there seems to be a growing interest to comprehend –and
include- these spaces into our systems of [urban] classification. This
process, however, is not without its problems. It not only evidences the
lack of vocabulary available to name these spaces, highlighting the
growing complexity and proliferation of these spaces “without name”. It
also indicates the ‘reversal’ of [spatial] strategies as a form of
‘de-monstration’: liberating the monster of its monstrosity by means of
display [or visualization].







Heidi Sohn is an Amsterdam based architect from Mexico City, who
received her Masters in Science in architecture and urban studies from
the TU Delft. Currently, she is a Research Fellow in theory at the
Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft. Her PhD research, “The Emergence of
Urban Monsters”, under the supervision of Prof. Graafland, explores the
different processes involved in the formation of urban identity, taking
the contemporary situation of Mexico City as her main object of study.
In this, the role of various forms of representation is analysed in
order to determine the relationships that exist between ‘reality’ and
the ‘imaginary’ of the urban.



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66 East: Centre for Urban Culture <http://www.66east.org>www.66east.org
<mailto:mail@66east.org>mail@66east.org -31-[0]6-447 54 773
Sumatrastraat 66 1094 NH Amsterdam The Netherlands



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