matzine

matzine #13 ‘Jargon’ – Food for Thought

Posted in Announcements, Food for Thought by esmefieldhouse on June 24, 2013

The deadline for submissions to matzine #13 is fast approaching (10th July), so about time for some food for thought on jargon from the editors .

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When launching the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion – designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto – programme director Hans Ulrich Obrist described the work as “an oscillation between the finished and unfinished, the organic and the geometric’ and a “utopic cloud city”; meanwhile, in the artist’s own description, a “new form of environment will be created, where the natural and the man-made merge; not solely architectural nor solely natural, but a unique meeting of the two”.

With the use of language in this register, both commissioner and ‘artist’ seek to augment – not merely describe – the artefact in question. That writing on architecture and art more often seeks to create consensus than to ‘communicate’ ideas relating to the work is no surprise; but to proclaim that this – technically impressive – assemblage of 20mm steel tubing can create a ‘new form of environment’ is a lofty intention.

The intention here is not to be pedantic – rather, to note an example of the engagement between the reality of artefact (building, photograph, drawing, installation), and the means of its basic – or extended – interpretation, in text and imagery. The language employed in the description of architecture is notoriously artificial – used to further the illusion of single authorship, or to ‘shoehorn’ a piece of architecture into a history and tradition to which it does not belong. The archetypical artist’s statement takes a different form – but it is one not without a similar agenda.

matzine #13 ‘Jargon’ – Open Call for Submissions

Posted in Announcements by Ian Pollard on June 13, 2013

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Jargon can be defined both as a language particular to a trade or discipline and an unintelligible code. How we discuss a piece of work is inextricably tied to how the profession that made it is perceived and experienced by others. Much like any other language, each jargon is comfortably familiar to some, alien and intangible to others; this secrecy allows a skill to be guarded, to build intriguing fortresses that ultimately add value and distinction.

Arguably, in architecture it is on the blurry boundaries with other disciplines where the most exciting and innovative things are taking place. In talking about art and architecture, we often find jargon to be both inescapable and irresistible; can it take forms other than writing?

In collaboration, each discipline must exchange particular forms of expression with the understanding that something may be gained – as well as lost – in the translation. How do we balance this exchange with a critical language that is necessarily immersive and unself-conscious?

In matzine 13, the editors seek to explore these themes; our intention is not to contrive relationships where they need not exist, but rather to document the ones that might, or should.

This is an open call for submissions. The deadline is the 27th July 2013. Selection of pieces for final inclusion will take place by editorial review after this date. Individual and collaborative submissions are welcome, and can take any form; the list includes essays, interviews, reviews and short-stories, to drawings, illustration and photography and more.

The editors encourage initial proposals & undeveloped thoughts in advance of the deadline via submissions.matzine@gmail.com. Further expansion on the theme will follow in the coming weeks, and will be posted here as a series of short texts with the aim of provoking response from all who share an interest.

Editors: Ian Pollard & Esme Fieldhouse

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