Ariel Auslender
Ariel Auslender: was born in Argentina on December 1959. He began his art studies in Argentina. In 1982, he moved to Italy were he continued his education at the school of art in Carrara. This was followed by further studies in Munich, Germany in 1988. His academic career began as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sculptural Design at the School of Architecture in the Technische Universität, Darmstadt, Germany in 1989. He has been Head of the department since 2002 and is presently full Professor at the university. He was elected by his peers to the position of Dean of the School of Architecture, a role that he kept from 2012 to 2018. Parallel to this productive academic career, he remains a prolific successful sculpture and painter, with several of his works in private collections and public spaces.
Theory of Continents
by Jonathan Skinner
The wreck of a reed boat sits amidst the dry scrubland, under its sun
bleached palm frond shelter. By enlarging the picture you can make
out a message carved from pitch on a hewn slab of driftwood:
“Stranded on Fig Bay, our team of botanists and explorers struggles
to survive in the torrid summer heat. We immediately set to work
ebuilding the Black Bee, our beloved craft the sea took from us,
with its cargo of plants and seeds from around the world. Collecting
primary materials from the wealth of f lora and fauna, and out of the
debris that we gather in the garden, we embark on an apprenticeship
to local techniques, fruit of the diverse biospheres of a coastal desert
climate. Enchanted by the sublimity of the surrounding landscape,
little by little we abandon our project of taking to the seas again
of escaping this garden we have only just discovered. Slowly, the
garden absorbs the grounded ship. Insects and other animals make
their nests in the const- [illegible] of the boat and in all its interstices
the great . . . [illegible] wildlife who have made of this ship [illegible] . . .
a symbiotic relationship . . . and nature . . . a swarm of bees.”
Quoted text (trans. J. Skinner) co-authored by Jan Hendzel, Oscar Hunt, Etienne Haller & Elinor Scarth for their installation, The Black Bee of Porquerolles, in Gilles Clément’s “planetary garden,” Domaine du Rayol.
Thomas Ashcraft
Thomas Ashcraft: is a naturalist, radio astronomer, and mesosphere scientist residing in north central New Mexico. He operates the Observatory of Heliotown and currently enjoys a position of Omega Mind at the Santa Fe Institute. His intercept is www.heliotown.com
There are no options
by Pierre Joris
There are no options,
only Time.
The traffic report tells us
nothing, or just that. Only
time in which the buses pelt
down the Belt Parkway
driving fast & furious, their Not
In Use signs flashing
against time and turn
to back front forward
into Wednesday morning
— that time — they kneel
down every so often, I
watch them go by, numbers
& letters flashing on their high
foreheads like deranged haikus