Thematic articles

Stefania Kenley - Staged dialectics

"Die Kunst - 'ach, die Kunst' -, sie besitz, neben ihrer Verwandlungsfähigkeit, auch die Gabe der Ubiquität.""Art - 'ah, art' -, with its power of transfiguration, also possesses the gift of ubiquity."1

"The art - 'ah, the art' -, with its ability to transfigure, it has also the gift of ubiquity."1

In the interdisciplinary colloquium "Reflections on Projection" ("Réfléchir la projection"), organized by Véronique Campan at the University of Poitiers (France), 26-28 May 2011, architect Stefania Kenley presented her paper "Drawings in section and X-ray photographs" ("Dessins en coupe et photographies au rayon X"), ending with a series of original images - as a postscript or echo of her argument. Jean-Louis Déotte pointed out that, in Benjamin's Paris - Capitale du XIXème siècle: "conceptual realities are deduced - two kinds of aura, of trajectory, of past, present, future..."2. Otherwise, we would have a single point of view, "either of technology (metal and glass architecture, electric lighting, etc.) or of capitalism (commercial products, universal exhibitions, etc.)"3.

Following this line of thought, Stefania Kenley's images reveal an organic dimension of the urban landscape through a shift in the point of observation.

Read the full text in Arhitectura Magazine 3 / 2011.

Staging Dialectics

During the trans-disciplinary conference "Reflecting the projection" ("Réfléchir la projection") organized by Véronique Campan at University of Poitiers (France), held on 26th-28th May 2011, the architect Stefania Kenley presented a paper "Section drawings and X-Ray photographs" ("Dessins en coupe et photographies au rayon X"), ending with a series of original images - as a post-scriptum to or an echo of her argument. These images were intended to further the idea of a genealogy of projection, already present in the theories of Walter Benjamin. Jean-Louis Déotte has shown that, in his unfinished work Paris : Capitale du XIXème siècle, all Benjamin's conceptual realities have "a doubling of... registers, of the aura, of the trajectory, of the Past, the Present, the Future..."2. Otherwise, we would have a singular point of view, "either the one of Technique (the architecture of metal and glass, electric lighting, etc.) or the one of Capitalism (the merchandise, the great exhibitions...)"3.

Following this line of thought, the images of Stefania Kenley revealed the organic dimension of urban landscape through a shifting gaze.

Read the full text in the print magazine.

NOTE / NOTES

1 Paul Célan, Le Méridien & autres proses, notes and translation from the German by Jean Launay, Paris, Edition. du Seuil, 2002 (Der Meridian S. FISCHER Verlag, October 22, 1960), p. 64.