13-14 November 2012
I took part in the Theory Forum titled Urban Blind Spots at the Sheffield School of Architecture, and presented a paper called "Deleuze's Fold as Urban Strategy". Abstract below:
Spaces defined by their exteriority to the prevailing urban frame - here referred to as ‘urban blind spots’ - appear in several theoretical writings, with different names. ‘Voids’, ‘Temporary Autonomous Zones’, ‘terrains vagues’, arguably all share some common traits: a political potential, rising from the vacancy of the established order; as well as a radical separation from the city’s inside. Beyond the fascination they exercise on architects, can these spaces and their openness be put to work for transforming the city? Could it be that, in order to activate their political potential, one needs to rethink their relation to the city, and move away from the idea of a strict exteriority?
This question is approached against the backdrop of Deleuze’s ‘fold’, and the particular conditions of exteriority it describes. As an hypothesis to be tested, the form of the ‘fold’ may be a resource both to understand the embedded functioning of ‘blind spots’ within processes of urban speculation, and to mobilise these spaces for alternative transformations of the city.
The full programme booklet with abstracts of papers is available here.
10 September 2012
The PDF of "GADJOPTICON" (full text + images) is now available for download.
-
29 June 2012
The latest issue of the academic journal CITY contains an article by me: "Notes on the potential of void; the case of the evacuated Heygate estate"
[Part of the special feature "NEOutopia: Architecture and the Politics of the New", introduced by Emma Cummins, with contributions from Louis Moreno, Caspar Pearson and the city-bound collective]
To request an e-print of the article, write me:
fs [at] francescosebregondi.net
-
18 May 2012
THE EVENT OF VOID
Architecture and politics in the evacuated Heygate estate
Newsprint, 48 pages / essay + illustrations
Project by Francesco Sebregondi
Graphic Design by David Keshavjee and Julien Tavelli (Maximage)
£3.50
Available in the following places in London:
AA Bookshop
Banner Repeater
Donlon Books
Koenig Books Serpentine
Review
South London Gallery
X marks the Bokship
56A Infoshop
Also available through Motto distribution and the Booklet Library Tokyo.
To order a copy and have it shipped, write me:
fs [at] francescosebregondi.net
-
26-27 November 2011
NEO-UTOPIA at the Centre for Creative Collaboration
16 Acton Street, London, Greater London, WC1X 9NG
More information here.
For the talk on November 26th evening, I will give a short presentation of my work on the Heygate estate.
-
30 September - 6 October 2011
FIVE MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT at the Centre for Research Architecture
Richard Hoggart Building - Room 312
Goldsmiths College [New Cross - London]
More information here.
A display of eight projects from the MA Research Architecture 2011 investigating contemporary spatial, material and political transformations. Works by Manuela Hötzl, Zahra Hussain, Anisha Jogani, Monika Löve, Jan Lemitz, Roberta Mahfuz, Igor Pavlovic, Francesco Sebregondi.
