I have been working on organizing and curating this conference and exhibition…

Cambridge Talks is an annual symposium organized by the PhD Program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Harvard University that brings together junior and senior scholars to engage in an interdisciplinary exchange on critical themes in architectural discourse and urban studies.

This year, the topic for Cambridge Talks III will be “Mediated Space.” With media technologies embedded ever-deeper into architecture, the city and everyday life, a rigorous historiography of media’s relationship to space has become a burning issue. Under the radar of the dominant discourses on media that are fueled by technological fetishism and determinism, an innovative and rapidly evolving body of scholarship has evolved. The work of these scholars has crossed disciplinary boundaries to situate architecture and urbanism within new histories of spatial perception and kineaesthetics, the contingencies of the human sensorium, 19th-century optical devices and early cinema, sound technologies, and an expanded conception of cartography. Cambridge Talks III aims to channel this interdisciplinary momentum by providing a forum for the presentation and debate of vital new work.

A new experiment is underway here in Boston called The New Factographers.

About

The New Factographers is a evolving network of Boston-based sonic bricoleurs, moving image interventionists, experimental documentarians, urban dramaturges and critical theorists working across various media to re-interpret the particularity of place. The name is inspired by a strain of the 1920s Russian avant-garde.

Projects

NF01  :: Union Square (The Chirping Sidewalk) is the first in this series of events using the platform of the Boston bar to create immersive audio, visual, and socio-sculptural installations about local neighborhoods and urbanism internationally. This initial experiment focuses upon the Union Square neighborhood of Somerville. For one evening, the many flat screens of Toast Lounge will be transformed with a montage of short videos portraying the details of this historic crossroads intermixed with footage from cities around the world. Sonically, bar-goers will be drawn into a series of local soundscapes interspersed between music by Boston bands.

“NF01 :: Union Square (The Chirping Sidewalk)” takes place starting at 10 pm at Toast Lounge in Union Square, Somerville. The event is presented in partnership with Union Square Main Streets and Somerville Community Access Television (SCAT) on occassion of the MIT-GSD-LSE conference Writing Cities.

James and I just installed the amazing light Kara and I bought. And finally got to putting up the big prints of “The Colors of Berlin” in the bedroom.

So, I’ve arrived. And this is clearly the perfect neighborhood. Down the block is a store speaking directly to me. (At least it’s name is). “New York’s Images with a Somerville Style.” That’s my new thing.

Also, check out a map of photos from James and I’s bicycle trip. Initial introduction to key sites such as Charlestown, Chelsea and East Boston.

Kara and I spent a remarkable week unpacking and collecting new furniture for the apartment. Found some really excellent vintage items at Cambridge Antiques. Look forward to many visitors!