31.01.2020

Freitag, 31. Jänner 2020 | 18:00 Uhr
IAM Media Lab | Kronesgasse 5/III | 8010 Graz

What makes one a citizen? What determines who belongs and who does not? What draws boundaries of exclusion and inclusion? What binds objects to their meanings? Media. Territories defined by an edge. In the surfaces of objects, on the skins of our bodies and facades of our buildings we find the appearance of distinct edge; and through it recognition. The act of constructing such edges is no longer exclusive to those with the power and resources to shape buildings as sole vessels of identity. Our tele-visual apparatuses, at the discretion of an individual’s finger tips, have democratised the ability to build and access multiple worlds. Nevertheless, the act of communicating between such worlds always relies on breaking through their edges. In such mediating territories architectures of the in-between arise. A city that fancies itself edgeless. An algorithm that attempts to detect sovereignty in facades. A colossus that lies dormant at the Sri Lankan ministry of defence. A palace of Telescapes that houses facts and fictions.

Nicholas Zembashi graduated from the Architectural Association in 2018. His past work lies between architecture, media theory and politics and uses speculation and allegory to form essays in space. His most recent project, ‘Terra Media’, investigates how identity is bound by landscapes of communication. By setting out to imagine a world without defined edges, a study in machine learning classifiers reveals discriminatory biases inherent in human social exchanges. His 2017 essay ‘The Telescape’ was awarded the AA Dennis Sharp writing prize. He has worked in architecture practices in Cyprus and the UK and is currently employed at Forensic Architecture.