#wittkower

[arquisusa]

🖇️... Trabajo - parcial II.

Tras el conversatorio de la primera fase del parcial II sobre la lectura de Palladio Wittkower, se llego a la conclusión de hacer un trabajo el cual se base en la posición del autor ( wittkower) y su visión e interpretación a las obras y persona de Palladio al momento de escribir... Y dar a entender su enfoque, es decir, ponerse en los zapatos del autor en sí.

[theyhavemademe]

Non sarai altro che un facchino, che dovrà faticare duramente... per un compenso magro e servile; ti toccherà baciar basso, e in pubblico farai figura di uomo da nulla, confuso con la plebaglia. Anche se tu diventassi un Fidia o un Policleto, e t'avvenisse di creare uno stuolo d'opere meravigliose, sta' certo che tutti loderebbero la tua maestria: ma nessuno che ti vedesse, se ha un poco di cervello, vorrebbe essere come te: perché, crea pure quello che vuoi, tutti ti considererebbero un artigiano, un operaio, uno che vive col lavoro delle sue mani.

Luciano, Satire (da Nati sotto Saturno, Wittkower)

[namewritonwater]

mood del giorno

[robertsmithsonlibraryandbookclub]

Untitled Project: Robert Smithson Library & Book Club [Wittkower, Rudolph, & Margot Wittkower, Born under Saturn, 1963] Oil paint on carved wood, 2016

[the-past-is-too-small]

deformación variable: tipo y modelo

En contraposición a las estructuras basadas en la dualidad entre tipo y modelo, D´Arcy Thompson produce la primera descripción geométrica de la idea de deformación variable como una instancia de desarrollo morfológico discontinuo. Sus sistemas de deformación topológica sugieren una posible alternativa a las transformaciones morfológicas estáticas de tipos arquitectónicos autónomos.

Este acercamiento es radicalmente diferente al sistema ilustrado que describe Anthony Vidler, sostenido por historiadores contemporáneos de la arquitectura como Rudolf Wittkower o Colin Rowe, que, en su libro “The mathematics of the ideal villa”, propone un tipo espacial de organización común a las villas de Le Corbusier y Paladio (la malla de nueve cuadrados). Ésta daría lugar a una estructura profunda fija, que sería el punto de referencia para variaciones posteriores. El enfoque de Rowe, por lo tanto, propone una idea de continuidad fija, exacta y estática. Por el contrario, Thompson emplea el tipo inicial simplemente como un sistema de transformaciones dinámicas, que suceden en conexión con fuerzas derivadas del entorno. Ofrece, por tanto, una noción de tipo basada en la idea de estabilidad inclusiva.

via

[c-h-i-m]

Octoweek, Monoday

Today: Composite views in Backbone, nested data. 

The Trello clone I've been working on is slow going. I've renamed it Trillo. It will help you keep it true and real, while also providing you with what simon calls a "rich user experience". I'd say that it's close to a human version of a cat toy, but in a good way. 

Jeff: "There will be no giving up on this project. This is the challenge of Backbone. The challenge of Rails was all the different pieces of the intricate machine, and the challenge of Backbone is all this...Nested data."

Well-put as always, Jeff. Never give up, never surrender.

Nobody mentioned that it was St. Pat's day. Maybe we're all too focused, or too disappointed that we won't be able to join the festivities. I'll have a beer, and hope nobody notices I'm not wearing green.

I'll have to substitute study for soma, tonight will be a binge. The final assessment is tomorrow, and it's as important as always. Wish me luck!

[i-and-y-blog]

Liking Books

My main subject for all my posts has been the digitization of books. This last one will be about the digital spaces where people gather to discuss books and where the social aspect of reading is being executed. The site Goodreads is the example I will use.[1] This space where booklovers can gather and exchange experiences feels like one big international book club.

            I see this gathering and exchanging as the social aspect of reading. Just like on Facebook people share what they do and what they think of it. That Goodreads shares some traits with Facebook is emphasized because of the fact that you can connect your accounts. Facebook will then be updated with your book ratings and reviews. There are of course more similarities, but I would like to point out one in particular that interested me.

            Facebook has the iconic thumbs-up like function. The similar function on Goodreads is that of the star rating system. I think that this ‘liking’ is more than just trying to get rid of boredom and that it is not just ‘friendertaining’ like D.E. Wittkower argues.[2] More than that I think this emphasizes how much we value the opinion of others and that social media makes us more aware and dependent of the valuation by friends. When a book on Goodreads is rated badly by a friend, you are reluctant to read it. If your friend tells you that she or he enjoyed a book, you obviously would like to get your hands on that book as well. Though this value of opinions does not stop with friends. Especially on sites like Goodreads the opinion of every user is important. A book gets a rating based on an average of everyone who has reviewed that particular book and so builds a good or a bad reputation. A picture or some other shared information on Facebook also gains a good reputation by the amount of likes it has received. Without liking there seems to be no value.

            This kind of sharing is of course made easier by the social media and the digital technologies. With apps on your smartphone liking something is only a click away and to see what other people like is just as simple. I do not think that we only care about other people’s opinions, but surely they have an influence on our own. The internet, as I said before, seems to stress the values from others while it also expects you to rate things.

            When looking at the social activity surrounding reading from this point of view it almost seems as something negative but talking about books is definitely not bad if you ask me. This valuing action is merely one social element and there are a lot more to reading. Reading is not something I would ever consider as something bad, not even when it is changing due to new digital technologies.

[1] http://www.goodreads.com/

[2] D.E. Wittkower, 'Boredom on Facebook', in: Geert Lovink & Miriam Rasch (eds.) Unlike Us Reader. Social Media Monopolies and Their Alternatives. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures 2013, pp. 180-188.

[i-and-y-blog]

Sanditon: start of something new

We all know the famous Jane Austen and her most read book Pride And Prejudice. Just as famous are the numerable adaptations made from this book. From the 2005 movie with Keira Knightley to the 2009 novel with the addition of zombies, they all give the public a new insight in the story. The one that suits the course Digital Art & Culture best is probably the webseries The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. We discussed this popular YouTube phenomenon during one of the classes. The makers of this webseries have recently launched a new project: Welcome to Sanditon.

                For keen Austen fans this new project may have a familiar ring. Sanditon is the unfinished book by Austen. A lot of people have already tried to finish it. Welcome to Sanditon is another one of these tries. Just like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries the new project has a professional basis while the material has an amateuristic look. This series, though, is not only made by professionals and a scripted storyline. The input from amateurs is actually the most important part of Sanditon. Fans of the novel and fans of the webseries can join the project as residents from Sanditon and tell their story through the internet.

                Thus the Sanditon story is being made by multiple people. It combines fan fiction with roleplaying and produces a very complex and diverse storyline. The narrativity has so many different aspects that it is almost impossible to follow every story. Twitter seems to agree with this. People who want to participate can make Twitter accounts for their characters. When the project started people were so enthusiastic that Twitter actually started blocking the Sanditon characters.[1] Such spontaneous activity was seen as spam.

                Though Twitter seems to be the main site that the residents of the village use, there are also users who have created Tumblr or even YouTube accounts to go with their Twitter page. They have made a complete social media network for their fictional personalities and through these social media they tell their story and connect with others in the village.

                Boredom and friendertainment as described by D.E. Wittkower take on a whole different level in this way.[2] They are already defying their boredom by playing their characters. The activity on the social media does not seem to be out of boredom. It is rather an action that their boredom activity requires because otherwise they cannot participate in Sanditon. Still there is a sort of friendertainment going on. Within the village they make friends and so when posting on Twitter and when sharing things on Tumblr they are entertaining the friends they have in Sanditon. Maybe in a way they act out the boredom and they act out the friendertainment. All they do is for the sake of the story. There is a whole lot more thought behind their actions on Twitter. Though, maybe in real life you also post with absolute care. Because what do you want people to know about you? How do you want them to see you? Maybe you are creating your own story through social media?

                The possibility to have multiple personalities on the internet is quite elaborately explored with this project. Most of the participants probably have both a Sanditon social media network and a network exclusively for who they are in real life. These multiple personalities are hard to discern. Someone who does not know you in real life could probably not tell the real account from the fictional one.

                Welcome to Sanditon  is far from finished since it started in the beginning of May. New characters are still created. Although a lot of people participate in the project, the novel will probably never come to an end with so many inputs. It is just something that goes on and can go on endlessly.

[1] Auteur onbekend (17 mei 2013) 'Twitter verwijdert inwoners Jane Austen-boek', www.nos.nl. http://nos.nl/op3/artikel/507937-twitter-verwijdert-inwoners-jane-austenboek.html (geraadpleegd op 17-05-2013)

[2] D.E. Wittkower, 'Boredom on Facebook', in: Geert Lovink & Miriam Rasch (eds.) Unlike Us Reader. Social Media Monopolies and Their Alternatives. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures 2013, pp. 180-188.