Books for the summer

Dear all,

These are the books for the summer of 2010!

Book One- June:
Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path

Book Two-July:
Bruno Latour, The Making of Law.
http://www.bruno-latour.fr/livres/MAKINGOFLAW-Foreword.pdf

Book Three-August:
Slavo Zizek, In Defense of Lost Causes

Possible summer titles

I sent out an email with the following possibilities for summer reading. Additionally, suggestions from various campers are listed. In the next month we will vote on summer reading.

Bruno Latour, The Making of Law.
http://www.bruno-latour.fr/livres/MAKINGOFLAW-Foreword.pdf

Slavo Zizek, In Defense of Lost Causes OR
Zizek, Violence

http://books.google.com/books?id=KBIkPV0R14sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=violence+by+zizek&source=bl&ots=6OwuiVGnv3&sig=HfvFJcuFAZ0SPl7gsAeFmCwBpKA&hl=en&ei=wj2LS6PKLoKMNqH3rfcO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=violence%20by%20zizek&f=false

Martha Nussbaum, Woman and Human Development (Capabilities theory)

http://books.google.com/books?id=9R69I--rpzUC&dq=Martha+Nussbaum+capabilites&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=cz6LS92EE5P4NduL2aUB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
I am a partial Solnit fan, but think a walking focused book could be good. Suggestions?

Glenn Adamson, The Craft Reader

Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path

something by Walter Benjamin? (that you've not done already?)

Lewis Hyde: Trickster makes this world mischief myth and art

Nature of design
by David W. Orr
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195173680.do

Earth in mind: on education, environment, and the human prospect
by David W. Orr
http://books.google.com/books?id=Oy9IGO5ZdaUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=david+orr&source=bl&ots=QeS5wKAO23&sig=UtgcGww-6MfqYRmxF9hlKqSKXqg&hl=en&ei=2yaVS6z_I4esNvW0ncAH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13&ved=0CDIQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

The Gift of Good Land
by Wendell Berry
http://books.google.com/books?id=rjRPPwAACAAJ&dq=the+gift+of+good+land&hl=en&ei=1iiVS53DBInKNdXj_JgN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDcQ6wEwAA

Kinship to Mastery: Biophilia in Human Evolution and Developments
by Stephan R. Kellert
http://books.google.com/books?id=PkufpPphlz8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=building+for+life&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q=building%20for%20life&f=false

One Straw Revolution
by Masanobu Fukoka
http://books.google.com/books?id=9dVgPwAACAAJ&dq=one+straw+revolution&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=3

Why we Garden: Cultivating a sense of place
By Jim Nollman

http://books.google.com/books?id=_VbGL69Gnj0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Why+We+Garden:+Cultivating+a+Sense+of+Place&ei=mSuVS93ELJaWNYnEtNEM&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

The Language of Landscape
By Anne Whiston Spirn

http://books.google.com/books?id=pRyh6iVkWj8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Meaning+of+Gardens&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q=The%20Meaning%20of%20Gardens&f=false

Time to pick for summer

Dear Campers and potential Campers.

Art Theory Summer Camp is just around the corner, which means it is time to select four books. Below is an initial list, but I am seeking suggestions. This summer will follow past summers- a book a month for June, July, August and September.

Bruno Latour, The Making of Law.
http://www.bruno-latour.fr/livres/MAKINGOFLAW-Foreword.pdf

Slavo Zizek, In Defense of Lost Causes OR
Zizek, Violence

http://books.google.com/books?id=KBIkPV0R14sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=violence+by+zizek&source=bl&ots=6OwuiVGnv3&sig=HfvFJcuFAZ0SPl7gsAeFmCwBpKA&hl=en&ei=wj2LS6PKLoKMNqH3rfcO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=violence%20by%20zizek&f=false

Martha Nussbaum, Woman and Human Development (Capabilities theory)

http://books.google.com/books?id=9R69I--rpzUC&dq=Martha+Nussbaum+capabilites&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=cz6LS92EE5P4NduL2aUB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
I am a partial Solnit fan, but think a walking focused book could be good. Suggestions?

Glenn Adamson, The Craft Reader

Art Theory Summer Camp, briefly described-

When: Weekly meetings (subject to change based on the schedules of participants)
Where: On skype
What: A book a month June-September
Who: Anyone interested and perhaps a friend

Shaping the future

"We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test."

Barack Obama, speech to Congress, 9/9/09

Somehow this speaks to me as an artist striving to develop a meaningful practice in a way I don't think it could have before I became more familiar with Bruno Latour and Lewis Hyde, in particular.

Watch the entire speech online at Huffington Post

Recently, I visited the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester. As the docent told us a bit about Anthony’s background and work, I could not help but think about Bruno Latour and ANT. Raised a Quaker, she grew up in a community that differed from the mainstream in many ways, but particularly in that women had an equal voice, an equal vote in community decisions. Deeply concerned with the social issues of the day, fairly early on she devoted her life’s work to effecting social change. Lack of suffrage for women was not necessarily the greatest social ill in Anthony’s mind (that may have been slavery) but securing suffrage was the most likely way to influence change in many areas.
As our docent later told us how Anthony focused early on getting suffrage into the constitutions of territories applying for statehood, as opposed to simply lobbying Congress directly to change the law of the land, I could not shake the thought that Anthony had a firm grasp on the principles of agency. She certainly understood that law of the land might reflect the prevailing ‘panorama’ of the day, but also that the ink never truly dries on the Constitution, as long as ‘we the people’ actually exercise our own agency and don’t leave it all to ‘them in Congress.’

So where have you been this Summer when Jane Jacobs or Rebecca Solnit or our friend Bruno have tapped you on the shoulder to get your attention?

3/4 into Latour (or close)

This is a reminder about the online meeting tonight at 8:30 (central) I will only have 30 minutes online, but the interview section is CLEAR, so we can progress faster. Interested folks can keep on going.

Watershed residency update: It is hot today, the sheep are nestled in the shade, and suddenly what seemed like a very long time to be away is just about over.

First week with Latour

Howdy,

Just a reminder that we will be talking about the first 50 or so pages of Reassembling the Social. Good stuff. Hope you can get online tomorrow, Tuesday at 8:30 Central time.

Amber