following text is first outside input i have recieved on this issue

part of reason for my exploration:

"anyway, the main endpoint of this is to further challenge todays architects to engage in the dialogue, thinking, action that the anarchists and other activists are busy with already.
this is because the vast vast majority dont give a shit, do fuck all.... and if they did a bit more things might improve..."

that was response email from me to DGN anarchist D

on receipt of part of the following~:

he (L) appears to believe that
Alvar was indeed an idealist but is a little reluctant to confirm
that he was an anarchist.

L's summing up/ brainstorm is the following:

I know very little about Aaalto. My personal outline would be: 'master
Scandinavian modernist'. His hugely influential designs including
chairs and glassware and a prolific range of building types. The
Scandinavian modernist tends to be a gentler creature than his
Franco-German cousin (e.g. Corbusier-Mies Van De Rohe) counterpart. He
tends to soften or 'humanize' his work through use of natural
materials and small scale detailing. That said, the initial impression
will be of concrete forms, often (wrongly) viewed as innately
anti-human.

According to Richard Weston[ref 1, p149] Kropotkin's 'Memoirs of a
revolutionist' was amongst his favourite works. Weston asserts,
however, that Aaalto did not identify with anarchism or any other
ideology. It is frequently the habit of architects to cherry pick
philosophical tropes in a personal and highly eccentric manner. I
would argue that the essential pragmatism of their endeavour (compared
with the other 'arts') causes them to focus on the useful. No doubt
there are many great theses, real and imagined, on materialism and
architecture.

Aaalto's idealism, believing that 'ordinary donkey-drivers and wool
carders could .. live a rich and free life on the piazzas of the
Italian towns' seems rooted in romantic views of the Mediterranean
life, the renaissance and the values of ancient Greece. Many 'moderns'
shared these values, indeed it has been suggested that modernism is in
essence a continuation of romanticism (one where God has finally been
done away with), imbued as it is by Utopian visions of humanity and
its world. Here I would advocate caution; architecture's utopianism is
often a partially veiled totalising enterprise -- Corbusier is the
obvious example of this. Although these moderns appear to believe
their emancipatory rhetoric, the effect is the bolster the architects
societal role as forgers of the future. If the twentieth century has
taught us anything it is wariness against such unifying narratives.

My second caution in relation to this endeavour ('alvar aalto was an
anarchist') is what might be termed 'the ethics of appropriation'. If
the ends sought are a legitimation of a particular ideology through
'celebrity endorsement', the enterprise seems questionable. Aalto,
like many thinkers, practitioners and people, sought a better life for
'the little man'. This alone does not make him an anarchist. Anarchism
has its own panoply of thought, rich in diversity and complexity.
Appropriation though vague appearance of sympathy serves only to
denigrate the veracity and value of this thought.

Finally, and this time the eccentricity is assuredly mine, we should
reflexively examine any thought system even partly enmeshed in the
values of the ancients. Greece, its republic and its competing
philosophies have been re imagined from antiquity onwards. This
recasting ranges from the imperial Romans ad hoc mixing of platonic,
stoic and kitchen sink, Christian incorporation of platonic
formulations, Arab re workings in the 8th/9th/10th century,
renaissance classicism, Imperial British appropriations and our
present day 'armed enlightenment'. To say nothing of individual users
such as Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Deleuze and everyone else. I feel
the eccentricity is getting out of hand, so I'll stop there. Tread
gently (and with great reflection).

[1]
Alvar Aalto / Richard Weston.
by Weston , Richard.
London : Phaidon Press , 1997.

But that's 30 minutes of mental clutter. If the project takes on more
shape, I'd be interested to see it and perhaps apply some more serious
consideration.

all the best,
L is friend of D who is a friend through DGN network

upcoming stuff in ireland and further afield to be involved with or active about:


GRASSROOTS GATHERING 9
The Grassroots Gatherings were set up in 2001 out of discussions between activists involved in the environmental movement, Latin American solidarity, anarchist politics and community development who shared a commitment to non-hierarchical, bottom-up ways of organising. Gatherings are spaces for discussion and building links
public call out


The Global Week of Action on Trade Justice
Millions of people are getting ready to take action to say that ‘free trade is not working’ and to call on governments and the international financial institutions to ‘stop forcing economic liberalisation on the world’s poor’


Dissent is a network of activists who have come together to organise against the G8 Summit to be held in Scotland in July of 2005.

do you think the architects give a shit?

i am neither trying to be cool or trying to show that i am an anarchist

its the same old battle, dear jelk
please read the following, as was posted above

"anyway, the main endpoint of this is to further challenge todays architects to engage in the dialogue, thinking, action that the anarchists and other activists are busy with already.
this is because the vast vast majority dont give a shit, do fuck all.... and if they did a bit more things might improve..."

maybe you are "doing stuff", if so enlighten us.
also, as previously requested to all EASAians, please tell the rest of us and the world what you are FOR

if it only would reach the guy...

kizzez

jelk NL

please give us more rubbish.

type till you drop. more pictures with nonsense. it is really nice.

PS: your best postings are when you use the words "ass", "cock", "cunt" and "fuck" a lot. That is really cool.

geedorsh? anni, not sure how to spell thanks in your language
but thanks for your help, ill follow it up.
again, im encouraging everyone to offer their inputs,


here at home in ireland, a few anarchist friends, the pitstop ploughshares, are up in court for a non violent direct action 2 years ago, just before the war began, where they disarmed a US warplane.

if prosecuted they face 10 years in prison- you can watch a short TV interview with them on US based democracy now media network

you can also hear a comprehensive audio critique
"What's wrong with the American Anarchist movement?" by Ramsey Kanaan (AK Press)

“ … soft subversions and imperceptible revolutions [will] eventually change the face of the world, making it happier. Let’s face it, it’s long overdue.” – Felix Guattari, “entereing the Post-Media Era”



c/o card 4 of 58 of the red archive
the metropolitan complex > index > practice > archives > red archive

at last sundays screening peole were wondering on the origins of the word revolution, in its political context: earlier an idea that it was from copernicus' time was proposed in anarchy and revolution

meanwhile we have been making a new community garden for the city


and also greening the city. today 3 homeless men planted 3 trees for their friend who recently died tragically
you can listen to their words here and read article with pix here

you can listen to "arguably the most important intelectual alive", according to new york times

Life and Times of Noam Chomsky c/o democracy now

Amy Goodman Speaks in Dublin "independant media in times of war"

what's your e-mail? the old one i have is not working anymore... i was trying to get a little revival of your 6 questions (that nobody ever answered including myself) in the latest bulletin, and i'd definitely appreciate your answers in there too, so i was trying to send you the mail.

the same for everybody else: if you want to answer the 6 questions and probably find your answer in the bulletin number 3, send it to our new adress paraploevgia(at)easa005.ch!

thanks
flo_ch