We tried to define some terms for Alternative Practice. Please feel free to fill up the board for “What is Typical Practice?”
Location: Studio, 17th Floor Art Tower
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9 October, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Comment from afar.
alternative architectural practice is only alternative, unorthodox. Unorthodox perhaps is not definable in practice as it is constantly shifting. If it stops shifting then it forms the other face of the orthodox. For example, (apologies to all those I may be about to offend) Goths may be apparently unorthodox but are easily identifiable and defined (at least by others) and form part of the tapestry of orthodoxy. Not mainstream, but then, no longer alternative. Alternative is shifting, maybe that is a definition.
Conversely typical practice; defined, definable?
9 October, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Comment from closer,
Shifting targets, moving desires… perhaps you have a point. Alternative by definition is undefinable, as you say, but perhaps by defining the ‘stuff’ around alternative (which is more definable, by its nature) we define it’s being through negative space. This is a reference to a drawing/painting technique:
“Too often when we paint something, we stop observing and start painting from memory. Instead of painting what is in front of us, we paint what we know and remember about the subject. So, for example, when painting a mug, we start thinking “I know what a mug looks like” and don’t observe the precise angles of that particular mug. By changing your focus away from the mug and to the negative spaces – such as the space between the handle and the mug, and the space underneath the handle and the surface the mug is sitting on – you have to concentrate on what’s in front of you and can’t work on ‘autopilot’.” (taken from: http://painting.about.com/library/weekly/aanegativespace.htm)
13 October, 2006 at 9:34 am
… is alternative political…? …is it unashamedly saying that we have political concerns which outweigh commercial ones and are a necessary part of out actions…? i know some prefer the word ‘ethical’ but perhaps that a lot of alternative practice isn’t just about that single act and your role within in it but about a belief in a fundemental change within a system it could be closer to political (for expample the desre for education)…
13 October, 2006 at 9:40 am
… is alternative political…? is it the desire for change, redressing imbalances in society?…is it unashamedly saying that we have political concerns which outweigh commercial ones and are a necessary part of out actions…? i know some prefer the word ‘ethical’ but perhaps that a lot of alternative practice isn’t just about that single act/issue and your role within in it but about a belief in a fundemental change within a system it could be closer to political (for expample the desire for education)… a change which you cannot predict the final outcome….
i know this sounds a bit overblown and I don’t mean to be too serious or pompous and also my definitions of what is ethical/ politcal leave a lot to be desired, however going back to another post I left I think maybe it is about what alternative tries to do rather than the forms which it manisfests itself…