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The ROTOЯ partnership between Huddersfield Art Gallery and the University of Huddersfield was established in 2011. ROTOЯ I and II was a programme of eight exhibitions and accompanying events that commenced in 2012 and was completed in 2013. ROTOЯ continues into 2014 and the programme for 2015 and 2016 is already firmly underway. In brief, the aim of ROTOЯ is to improve the cultural vitality of Kirklees, expand audiences, and provide new ways for people to engage with and understand academic research in contemporary art and design. Why ROTOЯ , Why Now? As Vice Chancellors position their institutions' identities and future trajectories in context to national and international league tables, Professor John Goddard1 proposes the notion of the 'civic' university as a 'place embedded' institution; one that is committed to 'place making' and which recognises its responsibility to engaging with the public. The civic university has deep institutional connections to different social, cultural and economic spheres within its locality and beyond. A fundamental question for both the university sector and cultural organisations alike, including local authority, is how the many different articulations of public engagement and cultural leadership which exist can be brought together to form one coherent, common language. It is critical that we reach out and engage the community so we can participate in local issues, impact upon society, help to forge well-being and maintain a robust cultural economy. Within the lexicon of public centered objectives sits the Arts Council England's strategic goals, and those of the Arts and Humanities Research Council – in particular its current Cultural Value initiative. What these developments reveal is that art and design education and professional practice, its projected oeuvre as well as its relationship to cultural life and public funding, is now challenged with having to comprehensively audit its usefulness in financially austere times. It was in the wake of these concerns coming to light, and of the 2010 Government Spending Review that ROTOЯ was conceived. These issues and the discussions surrounding them are not completely new. Research into the social benefits of the arts, for both the individual and the community, was championed by the Community Arts Movement in the 1960s. During the 1980s and '90s, John Myerscough and Janet Wolff, amongst others, provided significant debate on the role and value of the arts in the public domain. What these discussions demonstrated was a growing concern that the cultural sector could not, and should not, be understood in terms of economic benefit alone. Thankfully, the value of the relationships between art, education, culture and society is now recognised as being far more complex than the reductive quantification of their market and GDP benefits. Writing in 'Art School (Propositions for the 21st Century)', Ernesto Pujol proposes:'…it is absolutely crucial that art schools consider their institutional role in support of democracy. The history of creative expression is linked to the history of freedom. There is a link between the state of artistic expression and the state of democracy.' When we were approached by Huddersfield Art Gallery to work collaboratively on an exhibition programme that could showcase academic staff research, one of our first concerns was to ask the question, how can we really contribute to cultural leadership within the town?' The many soundbite examples of public engagement that we might underline within our annual reports or website news are one thing, but what really makes a difference to a town's cultural identity, and what affects people in their daily lives? With these questions in mind we sought a distinctive programme within the muncipal gallery space, that would introduce academic research in art, design and architecture beyond the university in innovative ways.

In the 1950s Brazil experienced transformative changes including the nascent emergence of democratic elections after 15 years of repressive dictatorship, the suicide of its President and the construction of a new federal capital city in Brasília. Optimism and a forward-looking spirit, summarized in the 1956 Presidential motto, "50 years of progress in 5," suffused all spheres of the national experience. The modernization of Brazil would translate into the end of underdevelopment and a structure of dependency put in place with colonialism. My dissertation explores this historical moment through the Rio de Janeiro-based geometric abstract art movement, Neoconcretism. I study how this group of artists intersected with and contributed to the growing network of modernizing institutions that held the promise of a Brazil finally "catching up." Influenced by early twentieth century European avant-garde art styles, Neoconcrete art brought together an art practice and theory based in expressiveness, intersubjectivity and sensorial experience, which continues to influence contemporary Latin American art production today. In this project I argue that Neoconcretism was a transformative cultural force that shaped Brazilian modernism and national culture. Neoconcrete artists and aesthetic ideals contributed to many areas of national production including literature, the newspaper industry, education, and architecture and urbanism. Departing from scholarship that examines Neoconcretism within the internationalization of Latin American art, I am especially attentive to the influence of local discourses on its stylistic and intellectual formation. Given the group's collaborative nature, I use an interdisciplinary and cultural studies methodology to examine the artworks and writings of the group members in relationship to the national project of modernization and nation-building developed by the governmental sectors, private institutions and the intellectual and cultural classes. My dissertation underscores the way culture operated as an essential political tool, distinct from traditional genres such as propaganda, in the production of the "national". The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the Neoconcretists structures the organization of the dissertation and each chapter is conceived as a dialogical relationship between members of the group and Brazilian society. Chapter one establishes the broader Brazilian concrete project, and positions the emergence of abstract art in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as directly tied to the developing political and social climate proposing the construction of a "new" Brazil. In chapter two I argue for the equally generative roles of word and image in the production of meaning in Neoconcretism through an analysis of Neoconcrete poetry and the two main theoretical texts that defined Neoconcretism. I demonstrate how the movement was marked by positions of anti-progress and anti-rationalism that challenged the dominant political ideology. Chapter three turns to the Brazilian newspaper, Jornal do Brasil, which served as a place of employment for Neoconcrete artists, as well as a place of publication and circulation of Neoconcrete artworks and writings. I argue for the paper's generative role as a site of publicity for the group and its significance as a place of translation between high art and popular culture. Chapter four puts Neoconcretism and the construction of Brasília into direct engagement to argue for the influence of the national architectural boom on the artistic production of the Neoconcrete artists, but also to demonstrate how their works performed a critique of the state-sponsored project of modernization. In the dissertation I argue that the study of Neoconcretism unsettles any single narrative of Brazilian modernism and provides a lens to re-evaluate Brazil's "Years of Confidence" and the making of the nation through industrialization

La investigación permitió establecer los patrones y proyectos de Vivienda de Interés Social desarrollados en el Municipio de Floridablanca, en el año de 1972 por el Instituto de Crédito Territorial ICT, y la normativa actual estipulada mediante el Decreto 2060 del 24/06 de 2004, por medio del cual se establecieron las normas mínimas en materia de vivienda de interés social, con el objeto de considerar las características inmersas en estas propuestas, determinar sus problemas y proponer un debate crítico que tenga en cuenta las necesidades de sus ocupantes. La situación actual en el país en términos de vivienda de interés social ha motivado el desarrollo de esta investigación, pues se observa que los proyectos y las propuestas gubernamentales contemporáneas, no cumplen los índices de habitabilidad para una calidad de vida digna; por tal motivo, luego de examinar la problemática a fondo se plantea un estudio comparativo, que procura analizar factores externos al ejercicio de la arquitectura, pero que tienen gran incidencia en el resultado final de la vivienda. Para la investigación se recopiló información, con los diferentes actores que participan en el desarrollo de la vivienda de interés social a nivel nacional, departamental y municipal, al igual que aspectos sociológicos, políticos y económicos de amplia incidencia en la solución final de vivienda. Como se trata de un análisis comparativo, fue indispensable plantear variables de orden técnico, social, económico y político, que permitieran encontrar elementos comunes y divergentes con el fin de calificar y cualificar los proyectos, razón por la cual fue necesario realizar visitas al área seleccionada, entrevistas a los residentes y un registro fotográfico de la unidad de vivienda y de su contexto urbano inmediato. En síntesis, se analizaron las intervenciones del arquitecto en estos proyectos y los factores externos que afectaron el desarrollo profesional del mismo.ABSTRACTThis research established patterns and projects of Affordable Housing developed n the Municipality of Floridablanca, in 1972, by the "Instituto de Credito Territorial (ICT)", and current regulations stipulated by the Law 2060 of June 24, 2004, through which were set out the minimum standards of social housing in order to consider the features embedded in these proposals, identify problems and propose a critical debate that takes into account the needs of its inhabitants. The current situation in the Country, in terms of social housing, has encouraged the development of this research, since it is noted that projects and contemporary government proposals do not fulfill the occupancy rates for a dignified life. Thus, after thoroughly examining the issue, raises a comparative study that seeks to examine external factors to the practice of architecture, but that have great impact on the outcome of the housing. In order to conduct the investigation, information was collected between the different actors involved in the development of affordable housing, at national, departmental and municipal levels, as well as sociological, political and economic effects of widespread occurrence in the final solution of housing . As this is a comparative analysis, it was essential to raise technical, social, economic and political variables that allowed finding commonalities and divergences in order to classify qualify and qualify the project. Thus, it was necessary to make visits to the selected area and to conduct interviews with residents, taking a photographic record of the housing unit and the immediate urban background. In other words, the interventions of the architect were examined on these projects as well as the external factors that stroked his professional performance.

Premi extraordinari doctorat curs 2009-2010, àmbit d'Arquitectura, Urbanisme i Edificació ; This essay is the basis for a thesis, according to which an urban transcendent planning tool belonging to the functional ideology of the Modern Movement may be acknowledged as being of prime importance. The theme is the Plan for Bogotá, elaborated in several phases by Le Corbusier and Josep Lluís Sert & Paul Lester Wiener between 1949 and 1963, This is a work which has been very sparsely mentioned in international historiography of architecture and/or urban planning, and has generated little or no critical interest or deep analysis as part of the Latin American regional case1, or particularly, that of Bogotá. This Plan, besides its projectual and instrumental novelties (for its time), is remarkable for its historical, methodological and practical dimensions and for its dialectic between the values and principles that guided it and its final product, the city itself. Through the study of the urban event, of the processes and the product created by this experience, the codes which reverberated through the Bogotá town planning will be eventually identified, then put to work to rescue questions and answers that may contribute ideas and solutions to contemporary town planning. Several significant events point out the historical importance of the Plan. It was not only the second and last time for le Corbusier and Sert ¿ two noted CIAM protagonists ¿ to work together in town planning, 16 years after participating in the Maciá Plan for Barcelona, but also the only Plan for a Latin American city completely worked out by Le Corbusier, having signed a formal contract for that purpose. Like Sert and other renowned architects, Le Corbusier strove to leave his own imprint in Latin America2. In the Colombian scope the Plan may be considered a significant event, being the work of two emblematic figures of the Modern Movement and also for its importance for Colombian society, involving it as a whole in a project that became part of its own future development by the creation of a pioneering instrument for an integral city project, and also for its instrumental content and the legal expression of a compendium of regulations in accordance with the principles and methodology of Modern Urbanism. However, this, like many other ideas and proposals towards modernization of cities, did not transcend their time nor were they registered in Colombian history as a notably significant chapter (del Castillo, 2003). In its methodological dimension, the Bogotá Plan incorporates several instrumental measures, not used previously in Modern Town Planning, either in its international or its local versions, among which the following may be noted : the proposal of a theoretical city model, summarizing the main elements of urban politics at city, metropolitan and regional levels. The city Civic Center ¿ and its replicas at quarter or ¿barrio¿ level - represents an entirely new urban function. Urban sectors and their street network, arranged in a hierarchy according to the 7v¿s Rule, as the indispensable basic structure for circulation and urban design at an intermediate scale and as a deductive result of Corbusian thought about the shape of cities at that date (Le Corbusier 1951: Jeanneret et al. 1951), 1959 (Bannen Lanata 1991; Cortés 1995; Salmona 2003). The graphic image of the Plan and its version for the CIAM grille, which consisted of a series of plans systematically arranged to show both the form and analysis of the proposals for the city, to be shown in comparison with other plans at the CIAM 8 meeting on The Heart of the City. ; Award-winning ; Postprint (published version)

Premi extraordinari doctorat curs 2009-2010, àmbit d'Arquitectura, Urbanisme i Edificació ; This essay is the basis for a thesis, according to which an urban transcendent planning tool belonging to the functional ideology of the Modern Movement may be acknowledged as being of prime importance. The theme is the Plan for Bogotá, elaborated in several phases by Le Corbusier and Josep Lluís Sert & Paul Lester Wiener between 1949 and 1963, This is a work which has been very sparsely mentioned in international historiography of architecture and/or urban planning, and has generated little or no critical interest or deep analysis as part of the Latin American regional case1, or particularly, that of Bogotá. This Plan, besides its projectual and instrumental novelties (for its time), is remarkable for its historical, methodological and practical dimensions and for its dialectic between the values and principles that guided it and its final product, the city itself. Through the study of the urban event, of the processes and the product created by this experience, the codes which reverberated through the Bogotá town planning will be eventually identified, then put to work to rescue questions and answers that may contribute ideas and solutions to contemporary town planning. Several significant events point out the historical importance of the Plan. It was not only the second and last time for le Corbusier and Sert ¿ two noted CIAM protagonists ¿ to work together in town planning, 16 years after participating in the Maciá Plan for Barcelona, but also the only Plan for a Latin American city completely worked out by Le Corbusier, having signed a formal contract for that purpose. Like Sert and other renowned architects, Le Corbusier strove to leave his own imprint in Latin America2. In the Colombian scope the Plan may be considered a significant event, being the work of two emblematic figures of the Modern Movement and also for its importance for Colombian society, involving it as a whole in a project that became part of its own future development by the creation of a pioneering instrument for an integral city project, and also for its instrumental content and the legal expression of a compendium of regulations in accordance with the principles and methodology of Modern Urbanism. However, this, like many other ideas and proposals towards modernization of cities, did not transcend their time nor were they registered in Colombian history as a notably significant chapter (del Castillo, 2003). In its methodological dimension, the Bogotá Plan incorporates several instrumental measures, not used previously in Modern Town Planning, either in its international or its local versions, among which the following may be noted : the proposal of a theoretical city model, summarizing the main elements of urban politics at city, metropolitan and regional levels. The city Civic Center ¿ and its replicas at quarter or ¿barrio¿ level - represents an entirely new urban function. Urban sectors and their street network, arranged in a hierarchy according to the 7v¿s Rule, as the indispensable basic structure for circulation and urban design at an intermediate scale and as a deductive result of Corbusian thought about the shape of cities at that date (Le Corbusier 1951: Jeanneret et al. 1951), 1959 (Bannen Lanata 1991; Cortés 1995; Salmona 2003). The graphic image of the Plan and its version for the CIAM grille, which consisted of a series of plans systematically arranged to show both the form and analysis of the proposals for the city, to be shown in comparison with other plans at the CIAM 8 meeting on The Heart of the City. ; Award-winning ; Postprint (published version)

Diktatoren in autoritären Regimes nutzen z. B. die politische Inszenierung, um die Aufmerksamkeit der Masse auf sich zu lenken. Auch Politiker in repräsentativen Demokratien verwenden das Mittel symbolischer Politik und lassen beispielsweise fast alle Botschaften visualisieren. Durch die Massenmedien werden die politische Inszenierung sowie die Images der Politiker überall verbreitet. Die politische Darstellung und das "Making" des Images "können gleichermaßen zur Verschleierung oder zur Transparenz, zur Stabilisierung oder Erschütterung von Machtverhältnissen beitragen." Es ist nicht übertrieben zu sagen, daß das zwanzigste Jahrhundert ohne politische Inszenierungen nicht vorstellbar ist. Die Entwicklung in Taiwan bietet sich als ein gutes Beispiel an. 50 Jahre, von 1949 bis 2000, dauerte der Prozess der Demokratisierung und brachte 5 Präsidenten hervor. Von Autokratie zur Demokratie, von Zensur zur Pressefreiheit. Wie stellt sich der Politiker dar? Welches Image möchte der Politiker hinterlassen oder erreichen, und wie möchte er vom Publikum wahrgenommen werden? Sind sie alle erfolgreich? Oder gibt es eine große Kluft zwischen Ideal und Realität? Zusammenfassend wird hier folgendes herausgearbeitet: Erstens, welches Image gibt sich jeder Präsident; und zweitens, wo liegt der Unterschied zwischen der Imagepolitik im autoritären Regime und der Imagepflege in der demokratischen Gesellschaft? Es gibt verschiedene Medien, um das Image eines Politikers herzustellen, zu vermitteln und zu prägen. Früher war nur wenig Material vorhanden, aber heutzutage liegt umfangreicher Forschungsstoff vor, um das Image der Eliten zu analysieren. In dieser Arbeit wird nur das Bildmaterial bzw. die offizielle Photographie verwendet. Die Gründe dafür sind folgende: Erstens befindet sich der Gegenstand meiner Beobachtung – diese fünf Präsidenten – im modernen Zeitalter. Das Foto als Medium zur Politik- oder Imagevermittlung wird gegenüber Gemälden oder Skulpturen bevorzugt. Auch für den Forscher sind Photos eher zugänglich als andere Medien. Es sei denn, daß Gemälde und Skulpturen auch photographiert werden und als Album erscheinen. Zweitens sind die offiziellen Photos wichtig, weil sie die Subjektivität eines Politikers präsentieren. Daß heißt, sie sind Abbilder, in denen das gewollte Image vermittelt wird. Diese Photos erfahren immer eine besondere Behandlung und sind absichtlich ausgewählt, um das Ziel des Politikers zu erreichen. ; In this paper, the following questions are asked: are Taiwanese politicians – especially the 5 former and current presidents -- the same as what western politicians emphasize as the "making of images"? If so, what kind of images did they want to achieve and convey to the public? How big is the gap between the image and the reality? What differences in image making are there between authoritarian and democratic era? The research began with an observation of daily politics and was inspired by theories of political communications, especially the critics and analysis of the political acting by politicians. In order to find the answers above, two aspects must be considered: micro-analysis and macro-analysis of political situations in Taiwan. The micro-analysis tries to explore the characters and mentality of a politician; and through the macro-analysis, the individual would be put in the process of political and social changes, and we can see how the exterior factors influence a politician, his choice and his decision. There are plenty of materials and mediums to mold and to transmit the image of a politician. In the past, they could be the legends and poetries about heroes; the magnificent architectures, sculptures, paintings of rulers, or a face on the coin. These historical heritages help us find out the images of ancient politicians. At present time, the contemporary politicians still attract the attentions of the public through visualized objects, but the mediums are much more different. The invention of photography is like the Pandora box being opened. It enabled the politician to transfer the information to the public more quickly, more conveniently and massively. As for the public, the pictures of a politician are easier to access than paintings or sculptures. A politician would take a lot of pictures during his career, which makes it difficult to collect and analyze all these materials in the research. Therefore, the study here would focus only on the official or semi-official photos of those presidents. The reason is that, these kinds of pictures represent and reveal the ideas and intentions of a politician. In other words, the official photos are through specific work and are manufactured to meet the purpose and the image that a politician wishes.

Interstices 15 Moved: On Atmospheres and Affects December 3, 2013 Call for Paper What does being moved mean, historically and in contemporary senses, for thinking design practices spanning cities, architecture, scenography, interiors, objects? How are atmospheres related to lapsed ideals of subject integrity and to the immersion in affective states? What are the roles, politically, culturally and creatively, of emotion and imagination, and of felt or non-conscious states and excesses of affect, in the context of late capital? Since, more than 50 years ago, cultural theorist Raymond Williams (2001) foregrounded structures of feeling as pivotal to any understanding of cultural complexity, consideration of feeling, intensity, affect and immanent experience has increasingly gained importance across disciplinary areas. More recently, this tendency was echoed in architecture, art and design in an increased attention to atmospheres. Peter Zumthor (2006), for one, has said of atmosphere that it is the means by which "emotional sensibility" is registered as such. As a form of perception operating faster than any critical faculty, it offers orientation to the question "what do we mean when we speak of architectural quality?" This emphasis on the concept of atmosphere – something he shares with designers and theorists as diverse as Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell, Jean-Gilles Decosterd & Philippe Rahm, Herzog & de Meuron, Diller & Scofidio, Juhani Pallasmaa and Tim Ingold – finds common reference in the thinking of German philosopher Gernot Böhme. For Böhme, in Architektur und Atmosphäre (2006) particularly, atmospheres affect our primary aesthetic reality. What he calls atmosphere – mood and affect in their spatial situation – is the primary reality aesthetics has to deal with. These are what the beholder of a work of art and what that beholder perceives have in common. We talk of the feel or mood of a space, but not of a thing or object. Atmosphere demands a co-presence that necessary engulfs the terms of any subject/object division; it is this primary reality, where moods and affects play a key role, that aesthetics – itself understood as aesthesis or a general theory of perception – must deal with. Such a theory must lead to a confrontation with the longstanding bifurcation of what the Greeks defined as physis and techné, or nature and technology, and indeed calls for something like a revision in understanding of what mediation as perception entails. It is no surprise that the first accounts of architectural space in modernity arose from conceptions of bodily experience, for example, in Schmarsow's account of architectural space (1894). Already in 1851, Mrs Merrifield used the notion of atmosphere to describe the Crystal Palace, which "is perhaps the only building in the world in which atmosphere is perceptible" (1970). Gottfried Semper, who also participated in the Great Exhibition, was perhaps the first architect to theorise atmosphere, arguing in 1860: "every artistic creation, every artistic pleasure, presumes a certain carnival spirit, or to express it in a modern way, the haze of carnival candles is the true atmosphere of art." (2004). Jean Baudrillard recognized in modernity an increasing lapse of harmony, or Stimmung, between self, objects and their associated worlds. Pockets of interiority, which once stabilized these associations, increasingly open to linkages that have no predefined syntax, propriety or taste. In his "sociology of interior design", what counts is not bourgeois space as tasteful signature of an owner or crafter, but a new de-subjectified domain. The subject becomes "an active engineer of atmospheres" (2002). In such environments, the rhetoric of personification reigns: "the atmosphere will be yours alone" (2002). Yet, this modeling of agency arises precisely in a context where 'the interior' loses its sheltering capacity and is subjected to invasive, affective processes. Everything – from the economy, to political stability, to the future prospects of the planet – is moodily bathed in gloom, indifference or saccharine buoyance. For Böhme, such affective immersion corresponds with a double movement in modernity's "technological civilization". On one hand, such a civilization is predicated on a "decidedly unemotional stance" while, on the other, it fosters the "development of an enormous imaginary domain" nurturing an otherwise truncated emotionality (2012). Affectively calibrated environments are inseparable from an "invasive technification" and externalization of social constraint. The production of commodity atmospherics has become part of architectural, design and art practice. We invite you to contribute to the forthcoming issue "Moved: On Atmospheres and Affects" – in its refereed or non-refereed part. Interstices accepts both academic and practice oriented, fully written as well as visual, contributions that engage with the issue theme. For the double blind refereed part, we welcome submission of 5000 word papers and visual submissions with an accompanying text of approximately 500 words. For the non-refereed part, we welcome papers up to 2500 words and project reports and reviews of up to 1000 words. Visit our website to check out the Guidelines for Submissions for details about the reviewing process, copyright issues and formatting: http://interstices.ac.nz/information-for-contributors/guidelines-for-submissions/ Please send your submission to Andrew Douglas (adouglas@aut.ac.nz) by 15 February 2014. Authors accepted for the reviewing process will receive confirmation and a schedule in late February, and the journal will be published in November 2014. We look forward to your contribution! Issue Editors: Andrew Douglas, Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul and Ross Jenner References: Baudrillard, J. (2002). Structures of interior design. In B. Highmore (Ed.), The everyday reader (pp. 308-318). London, England: Routledge. Böhme, G. (2006). Architektur und Atmosphäre. München, Germany: Wilhelm Fink Verlag. Böhme, G. (2012). Invasive technification: Critical essays in the philosophy of technology (C. Shingleton, Trans.). London, England: Bloomsbury Academic. Merrifield, M. P. (1970). Essay on the Harmony and Contrast of Colours as Exemplified in the Exhibition. In The Arts Journal Illustrated Catalogue: The Industry of All Nations, 1851. London, England: David & Charles. Schmarsow, A. (1894). Das Wesen der architektonischen Schöpfung: Antrittsvorlesung gehalten in Leipzig 1893. Leibzig, Germany: Hiersemann. Semper, G. (2004). Style in the technical and tectonic arts; or, practical aesthetics (H. F. Mallgrave & M. Robinson, Trans.). Los Angeles, CA: Getty Research. Williams, R. (2001). The Long Revolution. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press. Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmospheres: Architectural environments; surrounding objects. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser.

This is a study about South-South cooperation, or the recent (re)intensification of cooperation initiatives between countries from the so-called global South. It contributes to the effort of documenting and understanding this emerging phenomenon by dwelling on the case of technical cooperation in tropical agriculture between Brazil and the African continent. Drawing on ethnographic and other kinds of data collected in Brazil, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana, it looks at some of the modalities of cooperation - in particular, capacity-building trainings and technology adaptation and transfer - that have been offered by Brazil's national agricultural research institute, Embrapa, to its counterparts in Africa during the last half-decade. Fundamentally inspired by Marilyn Strathern's analytics of relationality, this dissertation looks at South-South cooperation between Brazil and Africa as the formation of new socio-technical assemblages across the Southern Atlantic, regarded as a process characterized by an intensive work of context-making. I describe this as an ethnographic experiment in looking at emerging interfaces that bring together various domains, most notably in development cooperation and technology transfer. The first interface approached by this dissertation is the one that constitutes South-South cooperation as such, by means of its claims to difference vis-à-vis Northern development aid. These claims are assessed in Chapter 1 in terms of two domains historically privileged by the anthropological literature on international development: global politics, and organizations. Inspired by postcolonial perspectives that complicate simplistic renditions of the North-South divide, I chart a possible genealogy of South-South cooperation from the situated standpoint of Brazil, focusing on its discursive principles on the one hand, and on its hemispheric and domestic politics on the other; and describe Brazilian cooperation in terms of its emerging organizational architecture and dynamics. The chapter concludes by foregrounding South-South cooperation's ambivalent historical constitution within a global apparatus built under Northern hegemony, suggesting that the practical enactment of some of its principles stems less from a coherent, alternative policy apparatus than from its very organizational "fragility" relatively to Northern aid.I then move on to Brazil-Africa relations, to look in Chapter 2 at Brazilian cooperation's official discourse on Africa, uniquely based on claims to similarity and sharedness that are particularly emphatic when it comes to the domain of culture. A look at history indicates that this discursive emphasis has, for at least fifty years, eclipsed other vital dimensions of Brazil-Africa relations. Based on my ethnographic experience, I argue that this discourse does not find an easy counterpart in the practice of contemporary cooperation initiatives either. The chapter traces the origins of this special interest in culture to Gilberto Freyre's racial harmony ideology (itself a postcolonial rendition of Franz Boas' culturalism), and proposes the notion of nation-building Orientalism to characterize a view on Africa that, even though not inaugurated by Freyre, was taken by him to new heights. Inspired by classic and contemporary postcolonial literature, I argue that this view is fundamentally characterized by an interplay between domestic concerns (in this case, with the place of African descendants in Brazilian nationhood) and Brazil's own historical sense of subalternity vis-à-vis European and U.S. hegemony. As one zooms in further on the scale of technical cooperation in agriculture, this concern with culture recedes to the background, giving way to considerations centered on shared natural environments and (peripheral) agricultural development. Chapter 3 focuses on one of Embrapa's technical cooperation modalities, capacity-building, to suggest how Brazilian cooperantes' reach to their African counterparts can be best characterized as being based on demonstration rather than intervention. More than actually transferring technology or knowledge, I argue that this mode of engagement aims at making a context for relations between Brazil(ians) and Africa(ns) where these were largely unprecedented, and where organizational and financial resources are limited relatively to those available to Northern donors. The two final chapters take a closer look at one of the emerging assemblages conjured up by the recent South-South cooperation wave: Embrapa's Cotton-4 Project with Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Chad. They tell story of the project's early beginnings in Brazil's cotton dispute with the U.S. at the World Trade Organization during the mid-2000's, map out the new organizational assemblage that formed around the project, and describe how the project framed, and proposed to address, the problem of low cotton productivities in West Africa by adapting and transferring a package of Embrapa technologies made up of three components: no-till, integrated pest management, and plant breeding. Here, I draw on STS works on technology transfer based on Bruno Latour's actor-network theory to provide an account of technology transfer as the co-production between technology and context. I elaborate however on avenues little explored by the literature: in particular, the actors' scaling operations and the socio-technical controls they exercise differentially across contexts that are perceived less in terms of difference than in terms of an asymmetry between capacities. Based on my observations of this project's ongoing technology adaptation and transfer efforts, I conclude with a situated discussion about Brazilian South-South cooperation's potential for robustness.

La cinta muraria di Cagliari costituisce un importante esempio di architettura militare, tutelata per il suo valore storico-ambientale e paesaggistico, della quale conserva la forma impostata dagli Spagnoli nella metà del Cinquecento e le opere volute dai Piemontesi nel corso del Settecento. In particolare la sequenza di opere "alla moderna", che dal bastione Santa Croce si susseguono lungo l'asse nord-sud in direzione del bastione Balice, e gli ampliamenti situati nel settore nord e nel settore orientale costituiscono il risultato di una serie di trasformazioni che hanno ridisegnato e ampliato la linea difensiva sostenendo logiche insediative, religiose e militari. L'attuale conformazione di sito pluristratificato custodisce le testimonianze dei diversi passaggi che hanno " ridisegnato e scolpito" le forme dei luoghi e creato un paesaggio che connota fortemente il quartiere Castello e la città stessa. Una tutela consapevole di un patrimonio storico caratterizzato da valori e criticità richiede una conoscenza approfondita delle trasformazioni avvenute e un'analisi delle dinamiche in atto, affidata ad indagini multidisciplinari. Lo studio dei diversi aspetti utili a garantire una consapevole gestione del patrimonio storico è tuttavia nelle mani degli specialisti, padroni di un linguaggio -a volte di difficile comprensione per i profani- che necessita di mezzi di rappresentazione appropriati al fine di favorire una più ampia diffusione e una maggiore consapevolezza dei valori. Una rappresentazione che fino all'Ottocento è stata principalmente finalizzata alla descrizione del progetto architettonico oltre che alla documentazione dei luoghi, come nei taccuini dei viaggiatori. Tuttavia, la complessità della stratificazione storica della città contemporanea richiede l'utilizzo di un linguaggio strettamente tecnico e di un'illustrazione scientifica che a volte sacrifica gli aspetti legati alla divulgazione. Il passaggio dal modello puramente tecnico a un modello di facile lettura diviene uno degli obiettivi di una più ampia ricerca -presentare e illustrare le trasformazioni urbane- che trova nella piazzaforte di Cagliari un'opportunità per esplorare le diverse modalità di analisi grafica e di linguaggi affidati a strumenti tradizionali e digitali, anche integrati. ; The city walls of Cagliari are an important example of military architecture protected for its historical-environmental and landscape value. The actual conformation of a multi-layered site preserves the signs of the different changes that have "redefined and sculpted" the shapes of the places creating a landscape that strongly characterize the Castello district and the city itself. The sequence of bastions located in the north and in the western sector of Castello, in particular, is the result of a series of urban transformations that have redesigned and expanded the defensive line by supporting settlement, religious and military reasons. A conscious protection of a landscape characterized by values and criticalities requires an in-depth knowledge of the transformations happened and an analysis of the dynamics in progress, entrusted to multidisciplinary investigations. However, the knowledge of the many aspects useful to guarantee a mindful management of the historical heritage is in the hands of specialists, masters of a language -sometimes difficult to understand for the layman- that needs appropriate means of representation to support a wider dissemination aimed to a bigger awareness of values. A representation that until the nineteenth century was mainly aimed to describe the architectural project as well as the documentation of the places in travelers' notebooks. However, the complexity of the historical stratification of the contemporary city requires the use of a strictly technical language and a scientific illustration that sometimes sacrifices the aspects related to disclosure. The transition from the pure technical model to a model easy to read is one of the objectives of a broader research -representing and illustrating urban transformations- which finds in the stronghold of Cagliari an opportunity to explore the different ways of graphic analysis and languages entrusted to traditional and IT tools, including integrated ones.

Local ownership is a major component of what is considered best practice in contemporary peacebuilding. It seeks to reallocate authority between local and international actors in peacebuilding contexts. In its purest form, it requires that the design, implementation and evaluation of reform should be led by local actors. Therefore, under local ownership, external actors are circumscribed to a supporting role in post-conflict reconstruction. Local ownership is thus a critique of the tendency towards top-down internationally led peacebuilding reform. The primacy of local ownership is evident in its endorsement in both academic literature and policy documents. Underpinning the importance of local ownership is a set of normative claims. It is argued that local ownership produces reform that is more legitimate and sustainable, in addition to developing democratic governance as the foundation to a post-war regime. Subsequently, what scholarship on local ownership has sought to clarify is conceptual content, including the complex question of who is local. Furthermore, there have been different suggestions on how to operationalise local ownership, and more broadly how to bridge the prevailing gap between rhetoric and practice. What has not been sufficiently done is an empirical defence of these normative claims. For example, does the process of ownership actually result in the development of democratic governance? More importantly, are the outcomes of local ownership consistent with the broader liberal peacebuilding paradigm, especially the latter's democratic disposition? This gap in the literature, is the research problem driving this dissertation. This dissertation seeks to understand whether there is evidence of a positive relationship between local ownership and democratic governance within the broader liberal peacebuilding project. My guiding research question involves determining how essential local ownership is to the development of democratic governance. This relationship is explored though the lens of SSR as one of the pillars of peacebuilding. This is because the literature on local ownership has been developed most in this area. The relationship between democratic governance and SSR, specifically within the military, can be understood in terms of democratic control of the military. Democratic control is operationalised in this thesis as civilian control and oversight (executive, legislative and broader civil society). Taking this into consideration, there are two paths of investigation. Does the absence of ownership undermine democratic control of the military and does its presence develop it? Liberia and Sierra Leone are the case studies through which this question is explored. Comparatively, Liberia is meant to represent the absence of ownership while Sierra Leone demonstrates more substantive attempts at local ownership. Focusing on the reform of the military, I argue that the absence of local ownership undermined democratic governance in terms of civilian control and oversight in Liberia. The opposite is true in Sierra Leone. However, there is evidence that outcomes which develop democratic control and oversight of the military can result from activities were ownership is both present and absent. As such, local ownership of SSR is sufficient, but not necessary for the development of democratic governance within the military. That notwithstanding, local ownership is still of immense importance. Its importance resides in the production of reform that is more context specific and thus contextually relevant. Local ownership produces reform which the host country can understand and sustain, a claim that the existing literature attests to. In this way, local ownership is important in bridging the gap between the beneficiaries of security and the broader security architecture. While gains in democratic control of the military can be achieved where ownership is present or absent, the sustainability of these gains is intricately linked to local ownership. Local ownership may not be necessary for democratic governance in the military, but it is necessary for sustainable democratic governance, as well as reform rooted in contextual realities and the needs of the country undergoing reform.

This research aims at demonstrating that the prevention of mass atrocities is strongly related to States' obligation to provide their citizens with human security, as States, as well as the international community, have the moral responsibility to respect, protect, and promote individual human rights. To do so, it will examine the existing nexus between the concept of state sovereignty, meant as state responsibility, and the principle of Responsibility to Protect in the drafting of timely and efficient strategies to prevent war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. As highlighted in Art. 1 of the UN Charter, "To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace." Hence, UN Member States, together with all the other actors of the international community, should cooperate to create a global architecture of prevention through the empowerment of State responsibilities. The research will emphasize the responsibility of States to provide its citizens with human security and, more specifically, with the seven dimensions included in the concept of human security, as it is necessary to overcome the ongoing challenges in fragile States. Even though no country is immune from fragility and, eventually, from the occurrence of mass atrocities, developing countries characterized by political instability are the ones that usually find themselves unable to protect their populations. Thus, the international community plays a crucial role in providing human security according to the principle of the Responsibility to Protect and, most importantly, to its Pillar II concerning the "duty to cooperate" to achieve international peace and security. The assessment of the risk factors of fragility and atrocity crimes is needed to draft and implement efficient and prompt actions to tackle large-scale violations of human rights. Strengthening the State responsibility to provide human security strongly contributes to address the root causes of State fragility, thus preventing the escalation of tensions and violence and, ultimately, the occurrence of mass atrocities. It is then essential to embrace the evolution of the concept of sovereignty throughout history. By starting the analysis from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, it is possible to identify the reframing of the sovereignty status as well as their willingness to sign and ratify international treaties and conventions. The classical definition of sovereignty referred to the State supreme authority over its subjects, whereas the contemporary one includes the universal recognition of State responsibilities towards the citizens. The creation of the United Nations and the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stressed the existence of individual human rights, in which the right to human security is indirectly incorporated, and the need for States, as main actors of global governance, and for the international community, including non-state actors, to foster and provide them without no discrimination. The research concludes with a concrete proposal regarding the empowerment of available tools for the development of preventive measures. As the prevention of fragility and mass atrocities includes complex and coordinated strategies, it is necessary to adopt a holistic and long-term approach. Specific attention should be given to the young generation who, through education and participation in both social and political life, could play a crucial and proactive role in the international relations framework. Education, inclusion, respect, dialogue, disarmament, responsibility, accountability, protection, intervention, and advocacy are the 10 elements integrated within the seven dimensions of human security that States, as responsible actors in the international arena, or the international community, in case of State failure or unwillingness, should guarantee to maximize prevention and minimize violations of human rights.

Having the means to access "news" at any moment without much hassle likely changes the experience of journalism for many people. Beyond this, one might even say that the way we interact with information on a daily basis transforms through this phenomenon. Considering such changes in what is often referred to as "everyday life" provides a useful starting point for research into media use. It guides us towards a number of considerations, from how we structure our day through certain habits and patterns of media consumption; to the development of technology and the formation of new rituals; to shifting dynamics of communicative flows across societies and their impact; and to the processes whereby the emergent becomes the familiar. Obviously such analyses are not bound to the disciplinary confines of media studies and the term, "everyday life", enjoys a rich, if vague and complicated, 20th century history. Indeed, a quick Google Scholar search of "everyday life" takes us on whirlwind interdisciplinary tour of academia, from sociology to cultural studies, psychology to political science, anthropology to economics. There is good reason for this, in that thinking through consistency and change – patterns and disruptions – across the passage of time forms the analytic foundation for much scientific research. But while "everyday life" adorns the cover of many a noted book (e.g. Goffman 1959; de Certeau 1984), a comparable term is almost nowhere to be found. "Everywhere life" not only draws the Google equivalent of a blank stare, even writing it down or saying it aloud feels a little awkward. This is almost certainly no discursive anomaly but is rather indicative of the subjugation of spatial thinking to temporal analysis within academia (Soja 1989). While space has been "treated as the dead, the fixed, the undialectical. Time, on the other hand was richness, fecundity, life, dialectic" (Foucault 1980, 70). Journalism studies is not immune from this tendency. Yet if we want to understand much of what makes media use meaningful for people, it is important to accentuate not only its everydayness, but its everywhereness as well. This special issue on the places and spaces of news audiences presents an initial attempt to do this; to see how the everyday digital geographies of contemporary media, communication, and information flows intersect with the everywhere "lived" geographies of individuals, and how this impacts audience perceptions of news, of storytelling, of journalism. The past few decades have seen a tremendous increase in the number of different devices and platforms through which we can get journalism – from tablets to smartphones, Twitter, online news, and so forth – and the different possible places and moments of news consumption have multiplied in concert. Although it is not certain just how robust traditional practices such as reading newspapers or watching the evening news will be in the future, to whatever extent they may have been stable in the past, what does seem clear is that old audience habits are certainly becoming de-ritualized and it is unclear what will replace them (Broersma and Peters 2012). As consumptive possibilities gradually spread to any conceivable instant and every potential location we desire, it seems fairly self-evident that conceptualising the news media diet of audiences as something clearly distinguishable from other mediated forms of communication is problematic. Similarly, as the temporal and spatial architectures of media use are increasingly unshackled from the distributional constraints of unidirectional, programmatic mass media, audiences are slowing catching up to the possibilities. This changing ecology of digital media may appear quite disruptive, its scale and impact being perceived most strongly early on in its introduction (until such emerging practices and ways of living with media become habitual and taken-for-granted). Coming to grips with the impact this has on journalism requires a scholarship attuned to these different spatio-termporal affordances.

Este escrito plantea referenciar, traducir a la actualidad y destacar la trascendente labor que Anna y Lawrence Halprin desarrollaron al respecto de los procesos de creación colectiva aplicados tanto a la planificación urbana como al proyecto arquitectónico desde la década de los años cincuenta hasta la muerte de Lawrence en el año 2009. Para definir el marco de actuación se repasa por un lado de forma somera el estado normativo y conceptual de la participación en España, y por otro las intensas biografías de Anna y Lawrence situadas en el corazón de acontecimientos decisivos que han influenciado definitoriamente en la evolución del arte y también de la sociedad occidental de las últimas décadas. La investigación se centra en un exhaustivo trabajo de revisión bibliográfica de ambas figuras y en el análisis de gran parte del material publicado. Interpretando y descifrando la documentación consultada para una posible aplicación contemporánea a un contexto de reivindicación social en la cultura occidental con evidentes paralelismos a lo acaecido en los años sesenta americanos. La pareja Halprin desempeña un papel trascendental en la evolución conceptual tanto del planeamiento urbano como de las artes escénicas y ejemplifica una concurrencia paradigmática de la arquitectura y la danza. Este cruce singular, muy poco documentado en la Europa continental y prácticamente nulo en lengua española, nos aporta el conocimiento de posibles alternativas ya comprobadas con acierto en la construcción participada de la ciudad. ; Aquest escrit planteja referenciar, traduir a l'actualitat i destacar la trascendent labor que Anna y Lawrence Halprin desenvoluparen respecte als processos de creació col·lectiva aplicats tant a la planificació urbana com al projecte arquitectònic des de la dècada dels anys cinquanta fins la mort de Lawrence l'any 2009. Per definir el marc d'actuació es repassa per un costat de forma somera l'estat normatiu i conceptual de la participació a Espanya, i per altre les intenses biografies d'Anna i Lawrence situades al cor de successos decisius que han influenciat de forma definitiva en l'evolució de l'art i també de la societat occidental de les últimes dècades. La investigació es centra en un exhaustiu treball de revisió bibliogràfica d'ambdues figures i en l'anàlisi de gran part del material publicat. S'interpreta i desxifra la documentació consultada per una possible aplicació contemporània a un context de reivindicació social en la cultura occidental en evidents paral·lelismes a lo succeït als anys seixanta americans. La parella Halprin desenvolupa un paper transcendental en l'evolució conceptual tant del planejament urbà com de les arts escèniques i exemplifica una concurrència paradigmàtica de l'arquitectura i la dansa. Aquest creuament singular, molt poc documentat a l'Europa continental i pràcticament nul a la llengua espanyola, ens aporta el coneixement de possibles alternatives ja comprovades amb encerten la construcció participada de la ciutat. ; This paper seeks to reference, translate into present and highlight the important work that Anna and Lawrence Halprin developed about the processes of collective creation applied to both urban planning and architectural project from fifties to the death of Lawrence in 2009. To define the framework of action is briefly reviewed the regulatory and conceptual status of participation in Spain, likewise intense biographies of Anna and Lawrence located in the heart of decisive events that have strongly influenced the evolution of art and also Western society in recent decades. The research focuses on an extensive review of the authors' literature and the analysis of much of their published material. Consulted documentation is interpreted and decrypted for possible application to a contemporary context of social demands in Western culture with obvious parallels to the events in the Americans sixties. The Halprins play a crucial role in the conceptual evolution of both urban planning and performing arts and exemplify a paradigmatic concurrence of architecture and dance. This uniqueness, poorly documented in continental Europe and virtually zero in Spanish, brings us the knowledge of tested alternatives with success in building a collective city. ; Peer Reviewed

Este escrito plantea referenciar, traducir a la actualidad y destacar la trascendente labor que Anna y Lawrence Halprin desarrollaron al respecto de los procesos de creación colectiva aplicados tanto a la planificación urbana como al proyecto arquitectónico desde la década de los años cincuenta hasta la muerte de Lawrence en el año 2009. Para definir el marco de actuación se repasa por un lado de forma somera el estado normativo y conceptual de la participación en España, y por otro las intensas biografías de Anna y Lawrence situadas en el corazón de acontecimientos decisivos que han influenciado definitoriamente en la evolución del arte y también de la sociedad occidental de las últimas décadas. La investigación se centra en un exhaustivo trabajo de revisión bibliográfica de ambas figuras y en el análisis de gran parte del material publicado. Interpretando y descifrando la documentación consultada para una posible aplicación contemporánea a un contexto de reivindicación social en la cultura occidental con evidentes paralelismos a lo acaecido en los años sesenta americanos. La pareja Halprin desempeña un papel trascendental en la evolución conceptual tanto del planeamiento urbano como de las artes escénicas y ejemplifica una concurrencia paradigmática de la arquitectura y la danza. Este cruce singular, muy poco documentado en la Europa continental y prácticamente nulo en lengua española, nos aporta el conocimiento de posibles alternativas ya comprobadas con acierto en la construcción participada de la ciudad. ; Aquest escrit planteja referenciar, traduir a l'actualitat i destacar la trascendent labor que Anna y Lawrence Halprin desenvoluparen respecte als processos de creació col·lectiva aplicats tant a la planificació urbana com al projecte arquitectònic des de la dècada dels anys cinquanta fins la mort de Lawrence l'any 2009. Per definir el marc d'actuació es repassa per un costat de forma somera l'estat normatiu i conceptual de la participació a Espanya, i per altre les intenses biografies d'Anna i Lawrence situades al cor de successos decisius que han influenciat de forma definitiva en l'evolució de l'art i també de la societat occidental de les últimes dècades. La investigació es centra en un exhaustiu treball de revisió bibliogràfica d'ambdues figures i en l'anàlisi de gran part del material publicat. S'interpreta i desxifra la documentació consultada per una possible aplicació contemporània a un context de reivindicació social en la cultura occidental en evidents paral·lelismes a lo succeït als anys seixanta americans. La parella Halprin desenvolupa un paper transcendental en l'evolució conceptual tant del planejament urbà com de les arts escèniques i exemplifica una concurrència paradigmàtica de l'arquitectura i la dansa. Aquest creuament singular, molt poc documentat a l'Europa continental i pràcticament nul a la llengua espanyola, ens aporta el coneixement de possibles alternatives ja comprovades amb encerten la construcció participada de la ciutat. ; This paper seeks to reference, translate into present and highlight the important work that Anna and Lawrence Halprin developed about the processes of collective creation applied to both urban planning and architectural project from fifties to the death of Lawrence in 2009. To define the framework of action is briefly reviewed the regulatory and conceptual status of participation in Spain, likewise intense biographies of Anna and Lawrence located in the heart of decisive events that have strongly influenced the evolution of art and also Western society in recent decades. The research focuses on an extensive review of the authors' literature and the analysis of much of their published material. Consulted documentation is interpreted and decrypted for possible application to a contemporary context of social demands in Western culture with obvious parallels to the events in the Americans sixties. The Halprins play a crucial role in the conceptual evolution of both urban planning and performing arts and exemplify a paradigmatic concurrence of architecture and dance. This uniqueness, poorly documented in continental Europe and virtually zero in Spanish, brings us the knowledge of tested alternatives with success in building a collective city. ; Peer Reviewed

Alison Moloney's own practice often involves commissioning new objects, rather than working with existing artefacts, and exploring new media outcomes. Multiple perspectives on the same brief have also long fascinated me, as new interpretations and conversations are revealed, and comparisons and juxtapositions generated. 1914 Now delves into various curatorial roles: an object-led curator; an exhibition maker; a designer and curator; and a museum director, operating an experimental space for the display of dress. Each has responded to the brief for Fashion and Modernity 1914, and all, in their different ways, work with dress in three dimensions, be they historical or next season's samples. I invited the filmmakers and curators to collaborate and for the curators to work with film to realise their expressions. Amy de la Haye is a curator and dress historian whose approach to curatorship involves examining and 'reading' objects, to create multiple narratives that are embedded in historical accuracy and involve didactic communication with audiences. The narrative for her film The Violet Hour is drawn from a surviving tea gown housed in the costume collection at Brighton Museum. This garment reflects the cusp of modernity as the onset of war and its aftermath impacted so profoundly upon women's lives lived, their domestic (and public) spaces and the clothes they wore to negotiate them. Film director and animator Katerina Athanasopoulou filmed the tea gown and worked with contemporaneous advertising illustrations to capture the narrative behind de la Haye's response. The film beautifully captures the foreboding moments of the onset of war and the transformative impact it was to have, through the narrative of the tea gown. Judith Clark is an experimental exhibition maker who simultaneously designs and curates her exhibitions; the choice of object and its placement within an exhibition or installation are inextricably intertwined. The interior architecture of buildings informs her exhibition design, and it is an exhibition maker's workshop that forms the backdrop to her film. The Futurist movement, and in particular the Manifesto of Antineutral Dress written by Giacomo Balla in 1914, inspires an exploration of contexts, display props and the futurist elements of fashion. Working with film director James Norton, Clark applies the concepts of the manifesto to a hypothetical exhibition. The film's stark monochrome aesthetic, with its unexpected blurring and distortions, references not only the multiple lines of Futurist drawings, but also the trials and errors, routes and returns, involved in the exhibition-making process. The distortion, utilitarian architectural environment and experimental Futurist music pay homage to this movement whilst eschewing nostalgia. The avant-garde, Antwerp-based menswear fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck communicates political and social issues of the day through his clothes. His archive not only documents the sartorial style of the day, but also the political and socioeconomic climate when they were created. For his autumn/winter 2014–15 collection Crossed Crocodiles Growl, Beirendonck appropriates the provocative headgear of war – a helmet from 1914 – to form commentary on the political landscape of today. Through the helmet hat, Beirendonck creates a new narrative for an iconic object, reinterpreting a symbol of warfare as a peaceful statement on current political issues. Working with film director Bart Hess, he presents a striking revolutionary army. Kaat Debo is Director of Mode Museum, Antwerp, an experimental venue for the display of dress. Exhibitions often focus on contemporary fashion, and material innovation and its impact upon the discourse of fashion. Debo's response to the brief was to commission a new object, informed by early twentieth-century Irish crochet from the collection at MoMu. The object is a dress designed by architect, artist and 3D-designer Tobias Klein and fashion designer Alexandra Verschueren, which has been 3D-printed by Materialise. This intriguing garment represents the tension between the desire for ornament and the search for the Modern, as the decorative nature of the Irish lace is propelled into 2014. The natural chemical growth of crystals on this 3D-printed dress, with surface design adapted from the floral motifs of the crochet, is for Klein a 'post-natural distortion that finds balance through technology and craftsmanship'.