obama, heidegger and me.

this is a love story about an artist, a theorist and the american president.

truth be told, i got a little overwhelmed and a bit weary with all the barack-ing that went on for most of this year. it's all good stuff, i'm quite chuffed, i teared up on the day, but by the 4th month i had reached peak obamafication.

but in the midst of all that, i realised that obama and i have a whole lot in common. mostly about the political influence of one person on a space:




one voice can change a room. and if you can change a room you can change a house [sic]. and if you can change a house, you can change a city. and if you can change a city, you can change a state. if you can change a state, you can change a nation. and if you can change a nation, you can change the world. let's go change the world.


now, strip away the electioneering and the rousing, teary, nationalist fru-fru and, actually, you have a combination between phenomenology 101 and politics 101.

which is where i come in.

hang on, obviously heidegger gets a nod and a wink - in his discussions about the sensory applications of the edifice (house, city, nation, world - remember) as does merleau-ponty for his phenomenology of perception, which discusses the role of the senses (esp. speech - one voice) on space.

now, why the hell am i making these ridiculous links between me, european cultural theorists and the newly elected president of the united states? other than obvious meta-data whoring?


both exhibitions i'm in at the moment are to do with ideas about spatial experience and its role in public/political life. they're about knowing a space by being in it, by touching it - through measurement and patterning. and this knowing, being and experiencing the place changes me/you and changes the place. and if you can change a room, you can change a house, etc, etc, etc.



a clip from my world is no bigger... as part of the exhibition my world is 15 x 15 , curated by kim jaeger

and these works are all part of my current research into the role of experience (occupation), space and the public/politic - that maybe in reclaiming an ownership, personal moment, intimate relationship with a place/public place, this will translate to a collective care, responsibility and engagement of public place, life and systems.


on thursday, curator nella themelios and i will be bickering about some of these ideas, as well as our upcoming collaboration into the city space, the relationship between art and politics (and probably warfare), the role of curating and other fun topics, as part of architecture + philosophy at federation square. [c'mon, pop down - it's free. starts at 6:30 6pm]




UPDATE - geek moment.
in writing up some of these thoughts. and putting together some images for thursday's presentation, i sought inspiration from my new lover: blip.fm.

here's my playlist on space, experience and public space [click to enlarge]: