Labelling a martyr is, in a way, an expression of collective guilt. Martyrs are a simultaneous reminder of the hopes and ideals that an individual stood for, and also the oppressive nature of humankind to smother those ideals. Memorializing martyrs then is a way of atoning for this collective guilt and to give renewed hope that the dreams of the fallen can somehow be realized. A popular way of memorializing martyr is to name streets after them – creating a potentially difficult juxtaposition. To what extent can a street, subject to all the pressures of the city, live up to the lofty ideals of an individual? And what does it say of us when a memorialized street itself becomes a symbol of broken dreams? Guy Tillim and Susan Berger have both created photo series that examine this deep irony.

Tillim looks at Patrice Lumumba, the great hero of African independence, who was murdered by his colleague Mobutu Sese Seko; after taking power of the Congo Mobutu subsequently canonized him as a hero and was regarded so throughout continent. Several African nations were quick to memorialize lumumba’s honor by naming streets after him. today, tillim’s shots of these avenues display a heavy sadness – faded signs of the hopes of an independent Africa embodied in dusty streets, toppled over statues, and stained concrete modernism. Over in the United States, Berger takes on Martin Luther King Jr. and the many MLK Boulevards across the countries that were baptized in his wake. These streets are often situated in some of the most destitute inner-city neighborhoods – a sign of the great white flight that emptied out many American cities in the latter half of the twentieth century and the systemic racism and poverty that persists today.

^{This article is part of Volume #31: Guilty Landscapes.}

Architecture has historically been a profession based on well-established principles, passed down from master to apprentice. These principles however have become ever more evasive, volatile and changing. each successive generation casts away the principles of their predecessors and declares their own.

Different movements and styles stake their claim to what is the ‘right way to build’. This has led to a highly accusational tendency within the culture of architecture; young architects are trained to be adversarial and have thick skins. What does this mean for guilt in the profession? if forced to always be on the offensive what room is left for honest introspection and self-evaluation? Architects, ever ready to accuse others, have rarely confessed guilt of their own.

^{This article is part of Volume #31: Guilty Landscapes.}

Last Thursday we organized a breakout session during the What Design Can Do conference in Amsterdam. The session on contact ironically began in mutual isolation. Upon arrival at the meeting point in the centre of Leidseplein, each guest was handed a pair of red ‘silent disco’ headphones (capable of receiving a radio signal) blocking out the voices of our friends and hosts. Our MC Lilet Breddels of Archis/Volume instructs us over the airwaves to head into the new Apple store across the street and “act like customers.”

As we peruse the gleaming titanium products, it becomes apparent that we are all participating in a radio-controlled distributed mini conference, connected by an FM signal, but disconnected from the speakers, whose location is unclear. Lost in the iCloud perhaps?

The disembodied voices discuss the various merits and pitfalls of social media, with anecdotes ranging from the crucial role it played in supporting protesters of the Arab Spring, the effect of Facebook on school results and of Twitter in citizen journalism, to the parents whose addiction to online games led them to be fatally distracted from feeding their baby.

Standing in this “chapel of technological capitalism”, the simple act of listening and thinking seems somehow clandestine. The impulse to drool over the latest gadget has been displaced by ideas. Shop assistants hover around suspiciously, and regular shoppers film us with their phones, no doubt expecting some kind of pre-rehearsed flash mob.

With the concluding remarks from our host, we are instructed to return to the square for some ‘real’ contact. Our headsets are returned, and traded for a square of fabric with velcro tabs. Together, we physically ’connect’ these sheets together, forming a large checkered rug, which through negotiation has become a platform for the most classic form of social contact: the picnic.

After a discussion of the disruptive effects of social networks, we each self-consciously resist the urge to check our feeds, and instead pour a glass of wine and peel an orange and speak to each other. It isn’t so hard after all!

Garth Lenz is a photographer who uses his images to communicate larger environmental issues and broadcast clear messages for change. His work on the Athabasca oil sands, in the photo series ‘The True Cost of Oil’, aims at documenting the scale and scope of environmental transformation occurring due to oil extraction. As the title suggests, lenz asks the viewers to ask themselves what cost are they willing to bear, for their oil consumption.

^{This article is part of Volume #31: Guilty Landscapes.}

What design can do for… contact! Breakout session for What Design Can Do, Friday May 11th 2012, 13.45–15.30. Open and free for everyone.

While almost everyone is connected to one another through the internet and social media, real contact seems to be in decline. Virtual time is replacing public time. This breakout session will try to break through this development and find an answer to the question ‘What design can do for public contact’.

^{Detail of work by Philip Beesley at Venice Biennial}

Featuring Axel Timm of the German architectural collective Raumlabor; Francisco van Jole, internationally renowned internet journalist; Younghee Jung, leader of Nokia’s corporate research team in Bangalore; and Ole Bouman, director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI).

Meet us at 13.45 sharp at Leidse Plein, Amsterdam to experience (the limits of) connectivity. This intervention is brought to you by NAI and Archis/Volume with DUS architects. Limited participation available, please RSVP at the latest by Thursday May 10th to rsvp@archis.org.

In stores soon!

Guilt has been effectively used to control and manipulate the masses. But it can also be the start of a change for the better: awareness, concern, action. Engagement and guilt are never far apart. Engagement is sublimated guilt. We can build on guilt, but can we build with guilt? Is guilt a material to design with?

In three sections: revelations, confessions, and atonement, the issue presents a global scan of large-scale guilty landscapes and our design relation to them. A major section is dedicated to the Chernobyl ‘exclusion zone’ as a post nuclear disaster area, with other contributions focusing on landscapes transformed by mining industries, waste, human atrocities and more, as well as ways to atone for these criminal acts.

The content for this issue was developed in collaboration with Unknown Fields Division. Contributions by Liam Young, Kate Davies, Ilkka Halso, Timothy Morton, Brendan Cormier, John Gollings, Michelle Kasprzak, Vincent van Velsen, Kris Verdonck, Neil Berrett, Yan Lu, David Maisel, Will Wiles, Nele Vos, Michael Brenner, Chris Jordan, Greg Barton, Brandon Mosley, Edward Burtynsky, Bas Princen, Mario Petrucci, Tokyo Hackerspace, Safecast, Aram Mooradian, Garth Lenz, Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, William Fox, Make It Right Foundation, 51N4E, Kelly Nelson Doran, Protei, Subhankar Banerjee, Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu, Guy Tillim, Susan Berger, Noero Wolff Architects, Jonathan Gales, Captains of Industry, Nicole Koltick, Youarethecity, Regina Peldszus, Bryan Allen. Interviews with Michael Madsen, Peter Swinnen.

Volume #31- Guilty Landscapes
160 pages
Binding: Soft cover
ISBN: 9 789 077 966 310
Price: € 19.50
Release: 4 May, 2012
Editor in chief: Arjen Oosterman

Contributing editors: Ole Bouman, Rem Koolhaas, Mark Wigley
Co-editors for this issue: Liam Young and Kate Davies
Feature editor: Jeffrey Inaba
Design: Irma Boom and Sonja Haller
Publisher: Stichting Archis

We recently had a little lottery draw to win a copy of ‘Project Japan: Metabolism Talks’, signed by the authors, Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist! Take a look at the draw to find out if you were the lucky one selected.

Jeffrey Inaba, Volume’s feature editor from C-LAB, talks about the convergence by technology, automobile, and higher learning corporations and international policy organizations on the city — and how they are making the City 2.0. The lecture is part of the program of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2012 and takes place at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) on Thursday 3 May from 8 pm. Click here for more information!

Volume’s presence at the Storefront For Art And Architecture in New York was well received by a good crowd attending the event. Justin Fowler, editor of the Volume in New York, gave a presentation about his opinion on Crisis, one of the themes of the day.

Fowler’s presentation tackled issues such as the aging population and war survivors, leading to what he calls a ‘Trauma Generation’. The presentation created a link between the trauma generation and urban planning. “Human development corresponds with urban development”, he stated, illustrating his presentation with various projects aiming overcome issues of the aging population.

Volume is present at the last day of symposium on publishing practices at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City. The Storefront hosts a two-day symposium in conjunction with Archizines, an exhibition by Elias Redstone. Volume’s New York editor Justin Fowler will participate in the talk on Crisis at 4 pm, or follow the live stream here.