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Master Relational Design #MILANOGRAM What will we do in this course? Philosophers of language tell us that a thing or entity begins to exist the moment we give it a name; on the contrary, an entity that is without a name simply does not exist. If we apply this idea to space, it soon becomes clear that if a place has no name, no history, no form of storytelling, it does not exist. In this course, we will analyze a specific, well-defined area of the city of Milan and carry out a series of narrative exercises that seek to give shape and meaning to urban space, which typically eludes any construction of meaning. The online portion of the course will be divided into two levels: a series of conceptual references and a series of practical exercises. The workshop will be an authentic journey in which students roam the streets of the city of Milan for three days and two nights. Throughout this time, each student is asked to keep a diary (developed through a series of video fragments) which will serve to build an open and shared online atlas.

Final Output Home assignments will consist of a series of video clips created by students using phones (and apps for production and post - production). The videos will be gradually uploaded to a web platform (developed by the teachers before the course) which will gather and store work done by students' and ultimately serve as our digital atlas: "Milanogram". Students are free to choose the technical format for their video, provided that the video can be uploaded to Instagram; we recommend using square images.

ABADIR Accademia di Design e Arti Visive | Via G. Leopardi 8, S.A.Li Battiati - Catania | Tel./ Fax 095 725 23 10 | [email protected] | www.abadir.net

 

 

Master Relational Design #MILANOGRAM Brief 1 What will we do this week? During the first week, from a conceptual point of view, students are asked to: read the following book: Francesco Careri, “Walkscapes. Camminare come pratica estetica” watch the following movie: Pierpaolo Pasolini, “Uccellacci e Uccellini” (Hawks and Sparrows) learn more about the site/archive by Jonas Mekas: http://jonasmekas.com/diary/ (particularly the section: “365 days project”)

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In this first week, from a conceptual point of view, we will investigate the theme of knowledge building through the action of walking, using Careri's book and Pier Paolo Pasolini's film as key reference points from which to define our conceptual framework. From a practical standpoint, we will discuss the theme of stop motion animation: how to start from an existing stationary image (a postcard of Milan) and how to turn it into video animation.

Why Before the invention of architecture, man had a symbolic form with which to transform space: the action of walking. It is through the act of walking that man began to build the natural landscape surrounding him, and it is indeed through the act of walking that, in the last century, categories have developed which enable us to interpret our surrounding urban landscapes. Walkscapes deals with the act of wandering on foot as an architecture of landscape, an autonomous form of art, a primary act in the symbolic transformation of territory, an aesthetic instrument of knowledge and a physical transformation of the "negotiated" space, which is converted into an urban intervention. From primitive nomadism to Dada and Surrealism, from the Lettrist to the Situationist International, and from Minimalism to Land Art, this book narrates the perception of landscape through a history of the traversed city.

Something to remember The journey is part of the existential design. [ ... ] The journey is curiosity itself as well as the acceptance that other gardens exist beyond the wall of your own garden, that other things exist; in short, it is a form of anti-nationalism, and anti-provincialism. Ettore Sottsass The limits of my language signify the limits of my world. Ludwig Wittgenstein

ABADIR Accademia di Design e Arti Visive | Via G. Leopardi 8, S.A.Li Battiati - Catania | Tel./ Fax 095 725 23 10 | [email protected] | www.abadir.net

 

 

Master Relational Design #MILANOGRAM Brief 2 What will we do this week? During the second week, from a conceptual point of view, students are asked to: read the book “The Walk” by Robert Walser watch the movie “Stalker” by Andrej Tarkovsky learn more about the app Likeways by Martin Traunmeuller learn more about the site/archive http://architecturefortravelers.org by Joshua Edwards

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Using Walser's book and Tarkovsky's film as two high-quality key reference points, we will refine our conceptual framework. From a practical point of view, we will speak about the production of a video starting from a virtual walk that takes place thanks to Google Street View. Each student will choose a specific urban area of the city of Milan, explore it with Google's software and turn his or her exploration into an animated video series. During the second week, we will, from a conceptual point of view, discuss the construction of meaning. While in the first week we tried to understand why "walking " is interesting and important, in this segment we will try to understand how to transform our own journey into a story, a narrative.

Why From the inner jacket sleeve of Robert Walser's book: But “The Walk” (1919) also has a special meaning in relation to the whole of Walser’s oeuvre: it is somehow a metaphor of his nomadic writing style, perpetually dissociated and left to the most incongruous, random and surprising encounters, as it is with any avid walker – like Walser himself - that lovingly embraces every detail of one's surroundings but at the same time observes it from an insurmountable distance, that of the solitary man, estranged from every functional relationship with the world. In a small Swiss town, and the surrounding countryside, Walser, the wanderer, guides us with his desperate irony, in a maze of the mind, inhabited by all sorts of figures, from the most amiable to the most disturbing. From Eichendorff to Mahler, wandering was a great archetype, one of the most radical modern literature has ever produced.

Something to remember Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long. Walker Evans ABADIR Accademia di Design e Arti Visive | Via G. Leopardi 8, S.A.Li Battiati - Catania | Tel./ Fax 095 725 23 10 | [email protected] | www.abadir.net

 

 

Master Relational Design #MILANOGRAM Brief 3 What will we do during this week? During the third week, students are asked to: read the following book: “Sul niente, sullo spazio, sull’architettura” by Stefano Mirti watch one of the two following movies: “The Warriors” directed by Walter Hill; “Lisbon Story” directed by Wim Wenders learn more about the site/archive www.outofedenwalk.com by Paul Salopek

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In the first week we dealt with understanding the mechanisms by which the action of "walking " can be considered a high-level conceptual activity. The second week was devoted to understanding how we could turn our walking into a story, a narrative. In this third week we will understand something crucial (compared to all the coursework we will carry out in this course), that places exist in our heads, not in the world. From a practical point of view, we will learn about the production of three videos based on three Milanese public spaces which must be transformed according to several adjectives previously chosen. The challenge for the student will be to transform a chosen place into an animated product determined and defined by himself/herself. Starting from Mirti's book and Hill and Wenders' films, at the end of the third week, we will have completed our conceptual path: walking → narrate → be aware that the world is in our head.

Why From the introduction to Mirti's book: These texts and images deal with space and architecture. How does the definition of "places" and "space" work in our heads and how do- these ideas and visions – transform physical matter. If we want to "build" places and space, we first and foremost have to act and work in our heads. Stated differently: the world exists because maps exist, (and not the other way around). The same applies to space; we have an idea that in turn creates a "place". This "place" is perceived in terms of space. Without an idea we can not have a "place". Without a place we can not have a "space". When a conceptual vision takes shape in our thoughts then the "place " (with its spatial characters) comes to life.

Something to remember We still believe that maps are copies of the Earth without realizing that it is really the opposite: it is the Earth that since the beginning of time has taken the form of a map so that space and time could guide us in our relationship with it. ABADIR Accademia di Design e Arti Visive | Via G. Leopardi 8, S.A.Li Battiati - Catania | Tel./ Fax 095 725 23 10 | [email protected] | www.abadir.net

 

  Franco Farinelli

#MILANOGRAM Workshop March 22-24 What will we do during the workshop? We will transform concepts into hands on experience thanks to the workshop held on March 22-24: an excursion in Milanese suburbia. We will spend three days and two nights (wearing backpacks, boots, capes and various equipment) roaming the city. We could say: the situationist détournement (and its flâneur) in the era of social networks.

AGENDA Tuesday, March 22 Day one: leave at 9.30 from the Expogate in Largo Cairoli and arrive at Atelier Forte for dinner (it would take 4h 41' of non-stop walking but ten hours including in-between stops, breaks, diversions). Overnight stay at Cascinet (bring sleeping bags and camping tents). Wednesday, March 23 Day two: leave at 9.30 from Cascinet and arrive at Camping Milano (it would take 5h 31' of non-stop walking but ten hours including in-between stops, breaks, diversions). Thursday, March 24 Day three: leave at 9.30 from Camping Milano and arrive at Pierluigi Anselmi's home/atelier, circling the Expo construction sites set to be dismantled (4h 36' of non-stop walking).

What will we do? The three weeks spent in a remote location were needed in order to prepare ourselves conceptually, technically and relationally. The workshop/trip is the heart and soul of this module. This course deals with testing, hands-on, a series of assumptions previously explained in our program. In these three days we will be walking a lot and we will be working on giving life to our visual atlas. We will be seeing special places and meeting interesting people. Along the way, we will be using the Likeways application and reading the Flâneur Society Guide to Getting Lost. The departure and arrival points are set, while the in-between stops might change. Along the way, we will see a number of significant places (with respect to the topic of the course) and meet a number of people who can give us more of an understanding and insight on the topics covered. Each student will have to produce and upload three videos per day. At the same time, using WhatsApp (the "broadcast" version) as an operative tool, a broadcasting station will be ABADIR Accademia di Design e Arti Visive | Via G. Leopardi 8, S.A.Li Battiati - Catania | Tel./ Fax 095 725 23 10 | [email protected] | www.abadir.net

 

  implemented and launched. This will enable us to share our activities with an audience interested in our project. Mattia Della Libera will be in charge of this part of the module.

From the "relational" point of view, we will work on three levels: • The group of travelers. That is, the relationships between people involved in your journey. Success and failure of the entire project will greatly depend on the kinds of relationships/partnerships we are able to build within the group. • The people we meet during our trip; the relationships we create with those we meet during our walks, as well as relationships between us and those we come across in casual situations (breakfast, lunch and dinner) over the course of our three days. • The group of people who, in remote, follow us on WhatsApp, a large amount of people who will come into contact with us thanks to new technologies, typical of the so-called 2.0 world.

Do you want to join our special journey? Contact us to learn more: [email protected] Vuoi partecipare al nostro incredibile viaggio? Per saperne di più scrivi a [email protected]

ABADIR Accademia di Design e Arti Visive | Via G. Leopardi 8, S.A.Li Battiati - Catania | Tel./ Fax 095 725 23 10 | [email protected] | www.abadir.net