623 Nomadism, Homelessness and Urban Wandering
3 credits
Schedule
Wednesday morning from 10 am to noon in the graduate studio space on the 5th floor.
Introduction
A tourist from America paid a visit to a renowned Polish rabbi, Hafetz Chaim. He was astonished to see the rabbi’s home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench.
“Rabbi,” asked the tourist, “where is your furniture?”
“Where is yours?” replied Hafetz Chaim.
“Mine?” asked the puzzled American. “But I’m only passing through.”
“So am I,” said the rabbi.
Tales of the Hassidim. [Buber, M.]
The objective of this seminar/studio course is to prepare the theoretical and programmatic framework for the project that will be developed during the summer semester. The aim is to develop tactics to study a specific aspect of the city, introducing a studio theme, and developing students’ individual strategies to address personal interests, selecting sites and modes for the project, etc. The seminar will examine precedents, looking at alternative forms of representation in art and architecture. Students will investigate the studio theme and are expected to make oral presentations to the class.
The theme for this year' studio is not exclusive to Montreal, nor does it have a unified definition. We will be exploring the notion of “nomadism” from the condition of the homeless to the modern urban traveler, examining concepts of place and belonging as they apply to the modern dweller.
The project preparation course will prepare the groundwork for the summer project. The participants in this course will be asked to reflect on the notion of site; experiment with various forms of mapping, measuring, recording; and will be presented with various artistic investigations of the notion of nomadism, as poets, film-makers, novelists, and various artists have explored the different expressions and meanings of a place of transit.
It is the objective of the present project preparation course to invite a creative interpretation of our mode of orientation in the city, and to seek modes of representation that go beyond instrumental or reductive methods and that may truly engage our everyday experience of the city.
Project Description
(NOH-mad-iz-uhm) A way of life in which a community has no permanent settlement but moves from place to place, usually seasonally and within a defined territory. For hunting and gathering societies, nomadism does not imply aimless wandering, but suggests an organized rotation of settlements to ensure maximum use of available natural resources.(www.bartleby.com)
“The nomad is not necessarily one who moves: some voyages take place in situ, are trips in intensity. Even historically, nomads are not necessarily those who move about like migrants. On the contrary, they do not move; nomads, they nevertheless stay in the same place and continually evade the codes of settled people.” (Gille Deleuze, “Nomade Thought”)
The definition of “nomadism” is a complex one that defies unification. From the pseudo-scientific description of a condition dictated by agricultural requirements, availability of natural resources and climate related circumstances, to the more philosophical and even spiritual state of being, the condition of the contemporary nomad or urban wanderer will become the subject of reflection and investigation of this year studio project.
Related Terms: Arab, Bedouin, Bohemian, circumforaneous, discursive, divagatory, drifting, errant, flitting, floating, footloose, footloose and fancy-free, fugitive, gadding, gypsy, gypsyish, gypsy-like, landloping, meandering, migrational, migratory, nomadic, rambling, ranging, roaming, Romany, roving, shifting, straggling, straying, strolling, traipsing, transient, transitory, transmigratory, tzigane, vagabond, vagrant, wandering, Zigeuner, zingaro (www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/nomadism)
First exercise: Identify one form of nomadism that you may encounter in the city or the outer fringes and describe what constitutes its nomadic nature. Survey the belongings of a chosen “nomadic tribe” or “urban wanderer(s)” and try to identify what are the tools, ephemeral structures or virtual boundaries that mark their place of rest. In a brief presentation to the class (week 3), you will describe those artefacts or boundaries that are specific to your nomadic society. For this first exercise, the chosen nomadic societies need not be based in Montreal. It is important, however to choose a specific community (or an individual) and not fall into generalities. This exercise will help us become more familiar with the multi-faceted and complexity of the term nomadism in its great cultural variety; it may also constitute a point of entry in your own investigation of the contemporary urban nomad.
Due Wednesday, January 21st, 2004.
Second exercise: Identify both a space of transit and a space of belonging in the city of Montreal. The space of transit should not exceed 100 ft2 (10 m2). Make a detailed survey of both spaces. The documentation technique can be experimental and combine different media. What is important is to find a way to represent the two spaces in a manner that does not reduce them, but rather reveals one aspect that was not immediately visible to the eye.
Present the two chosen places side by side. Then find a way to superimpose them and look for coincidences. Once you have completed these two representations, invert their specific usage, finding the appropriate way to make the space of transit into a place of belonging and the reverse.
Mid-term review: Wednesday, March 10th, 2004.
Third exercise: The final step of the project preparation will be to write the program (or the rules) for sheltering the contemporary urban nomad, considering the notions of limits, portability, ritual, etc. This program should reflect your intellectual peregrinations during the mapping process.
Final review: Thursday, April 22nd, 2004.
During the summer semester, you will concentrate on renovating/creating the shelter for a contemporary urban nomad. This place or shelter might be anchored to a specific site; it can also take the shape of a survival kit, a traveling suitcase or a tool for orientation that either belongs to the specific site or that travels with you.
Themes and Readings
Week 2
Visit of the workshop and other McGill facilities.
Week 3
Student presentations of chosen nomadic societies (exercise 1).
Week 4
Discussion of the following text: “Polyphilo’s Thresholds: Alternatives for Nomadic Dwellings” by Alberto Pérez-Gómez.
Weeks 5-6
Presentation in class of your chosen place of transit and place of belonging and mapping strategies.
Week 7
Presentation by Robert Mellin: Tilting, House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching, and Other Tales From a Newfoundland Fishing Village.
Study Break
Week 8
Presentation in class of the mapping in progress
Week 9
Mid-term review
Weeks 10-11
Architecture, nomadism and urban wandering in literature.
Kobo Abe, Box Man
W.G. Sebald, Austerlitz
Raymond Roussel, Souvenirs d’Afrique
Italo Calvino, If on a Winter Night a Traveller or Invisible Cities
Patrick Suskind, Perfume
G.J. Ballard, Hello America
Flann O'Brien, The Third Policeman
Alain Robbe-Grillet, Le voyeur
Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues or Skinny Legs and All
Weeks 12-14
Student presentations and discussions in class about the writing of an architectural program: sheltering the contemporary urban nomad.
Weeks 2-14
Nomadism and Wandering in films.
Nicolas Roeg, Walkabout (1971)
Michelangelo Antonioni, The Passenger or Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker or Nostalghia (1983)
Dziga Vertov, Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Atom Egoyan, The Adjuster (1991)
Stanley Kubrick, 2001: a space odyssey (1968)
Tom Tykwer, Run Lola Run (1999)
Lasse Hallström, Chocolat (2001)
Luis Buñuel, That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
Bernardo Bertolucci, The Sheltering Sky (1990
Assessment of Candidates
The students are expected to present their work in progress on a regular basis. There will be a mid-term review on March 10th and a final review of the project preparation on April 21st. The grade will be based both on presentations and participation during the seminars.
Important Dates for Project Preparation and project
Wednesday February 25: Winter break
Wednesday March 10: Mid-term review, Project Preparation
Wednesday April 21: Final review, Project Preparation
Thursday April 29: Beginning of summer Project
Wednesday May 19: Mid-term review, Project (to be confirmed)
Wednesday June 9: Final review, Project
Thursday July 22: Final submission of papers and project documentation