CFP 08.07.2021

Architectural Perspectives On The Animal

Eingabeschluss : 31.10.2021

Aude Clavel, Les Cahiers de la recherche arhcitecturale, urbaine et paysagère

N°14 Architectural Perspectives On The Animal
Dossier coordinated by Manuel Bello-Marcano, Marianne Celka and Mathias Rollot

Architectural Perspectives On The Animal
In recent years, the field of research that is Animal Studies has developed considerably with the help of scientific advances, particularly in ethology and biology. In France and internationally, a vast quantity of literature now provides a rich panorama of knowledge on animal questions spanning several disciplines and fields. How have the disciplines of architecture, urbanism and landscape responded to these promising areas of exploration? This issue of CRAUP examines the ways in which architectural discourses define and integrate the notion of the animal in human societies, economies, policies and aesthetics. It encourages a rethinking of our notions of the animal in relation to conceptions of human being in an effort to prompt a fuller reassessment of the discipline of architecture and its productions, whether built or unbuilt, or at a local, urban or territorial scale. In this regard, this issue tackles concerns that relate directly to the ecosystemic dilemmas caused by the contemporary environmental crisis. It aims to renew a debate on the important roles that architecture is taking – and could take – to address global ecological and atmospheric change. The issue invites us to consider the radical reconfigurations of our relationships with non-human living beings and with our own animality as possibilities for enriching the dualities between "project" and "planning," "technical" and "biological," "culture" and "nature," or "wild" and “domesticated." Indeed, the different modes of existence of the animal, which are invariably multi-scalar in space and time, make necessary both an anthropo-zoological vision and a perspective on architecture seen from the point of view of the animal. As an "asymmetrical condition,” the architecture-animal relationship as well as collaborations between ethology, urbanism and territorial planning, elicit questions as to the inhabitation of contemporary worlds by and for hybrid communities, both human and animal. In this sense, the overcoming of the human/non-human binaries towards a postanimal state of affairs raises political, ethical and aesthetic stakes for architecture and urban planning.
Urban and landscape scholars have mounted impressive collective efforts over the past two decades aimed at rethinking the relationship with the living world and at inscribing their fields within the broader disciplinary purview of the “environmental humanities.” How do things stand with the field of architecture, and its multiple vehicles of knowledge dissemination, ie. teaching, research and practice? There are a number of scholarly volumes dedicated to the Relationship between the city, architecture and the animal. It is equally worth noting the recent proliferation of studies on certain architectural typologies (such as the zoo) in which animals are deeply implicated. Furthermore, it is important to mention the presence of studies on rural and vernacular architecture, which provide an indispensable perspective on multi-species cohabitation. Finally, we also note the presence of certain concrete experiments, workshops, seminars, architectural and urban studio projects that are tackling this question in a direct and explicit way. Indeed, an exhibition on the subject is being mounted at this very moment at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris. This current state of affairs incites us to believe in the full potential of a field that remains promisingly wide and relevant. All that remains is to stand on the shoulders of these first experiments and to build what could be a rich disciplinary debate. In order for architecture to better confront the current ecological challenges, it seems both urgent and indispensable to question the tendency to see architecture as an exclusively human problem and, by extension, as a discipline oriented around the sole goal of domesticating the natural environment. The antropo-zoological networks relating to architecture are complex and require, no doubt, a view on the problem that is inter – and trans-disciplinary, as well as inter – and trans-species. The challenge could be to contribute to the development of a “trans-species architectural theory” aimed at the architectural discipline, its built works, social networks and institutions, and to position the discipline with regard to the work coming out of Animal Studies, the social sciences and Environmental Humanities.
We welcome contributions that focus on the way in which humans and animals have been able to co-construct relationships of cohabitation, organization and participation in common terrains; on the ways in which these shared spaces have been conflictual or peaceful places, symbiotic and mutualistic ecosystems or dominant and violent arrangements; and on the built artifacts that reveal these systems of cohabitation. Descriptive accounts of multi species cohabitation and conflict will undoubtedly reveal the elaborate lines of contact and connection between human and animal worlds and the manifold interactions with buildings and landscapes, imparting the settings with new meaning as a result of the complex entanglements. Within this framework, it is hoped that contributions to this issue will highlight some of the conceptual ways in which animality can displace the way we conceive, evaluate, construct and inhabit architecture, the city and territories. These conceptual and practical shifts could include tensions in the dialogical relationships between construction destruction, accumulation-expenditure, animate-inanimate, or living-non-living. They could also provoke questions as to our disciplinary assumptions regarding permanence and the potential obsolescence of architectural principles or foundations. To this end, this call for papers is awaiting ambitious contributions that raise new considerations, interdisciplinary perspectives, international initiatives which will contribute to a general debate through diverse and varied approaches in the fields of architecture, urbanism or landscape. It is in this spirit that we formulate here some possible avenues for contributors to explore:
The architect's perspective on the animal
This first line of inquiry that we propose is focused on the animal in the design/creation process and as a source of contemporary ethics for the architect's profession. Some possible approaches in this regard: the use of biosemiotics, the consideration of systems of humananimal relations such as the ecological phenomena of synanthropy (the enduring interaction of certain non-domestic animals, plants, or parasites with humans) and feralization; adaptive systems encouraged by architectural and urban strategies, or acceptance of "pests," insects, and other infra-animalities. This perspective encourages as much critical thinking about biomorphism and biomimicry in architecture as it does the consideration of the animal in the history of architecture and the shifts that take place in the latter between anthropological discourses and biological imperatives. In this sense, by exposing various modes of "diplomatic" ethology, we will attempt to identify the contribution of architecture to political ecology and to the politics of the living through eco- and zoopoetic as well as zoopolitical views and practices.
The animal at all scales
This second line of inquiry that we propose attempts to grasp how the animal and its representations participate in territorial policies and planning. We welcome contributions that examine the question of scales of coexistence and territories of the living: what policies, what infrastructures and developments have been created in order to achieve greater symbiosis with the non-human? Through cross-disciplinary research in fields such as biogeography, biology and urban and territorial metabolisms, we can question non-human mobility as well as the modalities of co-construction of the territory by both humans and non-humans. This spectrum of issues interrogates the way in which architecture works with the ecological diversity of urban environments or with the non-urban; how it is impacted by work on re-wilding (at all scales), by the philosophies and practices of synergies, alliances, diplomacy, mutualism, and entanglement. We also welcome contributions that question the realities and spatial translations of territorial conflicts with animals, with their interspecific meeting zones and their more or less porous limits, the protected zones supposed to prevent conflicts, the reproduction and displacement of these relations in urban environments (liminal animals) as much as in the "new ruralities”.
Imaginaries, cosmologies and aesthetics of animality.
How do imaginaries around the animal inform theories and practices in architecture, urbanism and landscape, from ornament to biomorphism, from permaculture design to biomimicry to indigenous low-TEK? How do these imaginaries take hold of architecture and its design and, at the same time, how do architectural practices take animal imaginaries into account? The aim is to understand the ways in which the presence and absence of animals in the city shape our contemporary cosmologies, attitudes and behavior. These questions also allow us to grasp how indigenous knowledge and collective sensibilities are renegotiated: from classical anthropomorphism to humanimal hybridity inspired by the cybernetic paradigm. The aim is to welcome contributions on the symbolic and different modes of responsiveness to the animal in the city: urban shepherds and eco-pastoralism, the exploration of pedagogy and awareness of the animal, the transmission of bioregional knowledge and urban trails, and even the question of zoos: what devices (political, architectural, urban) raise awareness of the animal and actualize the meaning of interactions between animals and humans? By positing the figure of animal as an ambivalent and borderline figure of otherness, can the animal grant architecture the capacity to engage with other forms of human oppression and overexploitation (such as ecofeminism or decolonial thoughts)? Can it open new avenues for considering new forms of architectural knowledge and know-how – expert, popular, and indigenous?

Procedure for the transmission of draft articles

Proposals for completes articles will be sent by e-mail before 31 October 2021 to the Craup’ editorial office : secretariat-craupculture.gouv.fr

For more information, contact Aude Clavel on 06 10 55 11 36 or by email audeclavelhotmail.fr

The review expects completed articles, not proposals, abstracts or any other form of presentation.
The articles must not exceed 50 000 characters, including spaces.
Languages accepted: French, English.
Articles must be accompanied by:
- 1 bio-bibliographical record between 5 to 10 lines (name and first name of the author (s), professional status and / or titles, possible institutional link, research themes, latest publications, e-mail address).
- 2 abstracts in French and English.
- 5 key words in French and English.
- The title of the article must also be translated into French or English depending on the language of the paper.

The CFP is available on the Craup's web site: https://journals.openedition.org/craup/358

Quellennachweis:
CFP: Architectural Perspectives On The Animal. In: ArtHist.net, 08.07.2021. Letzter Zugriff 28.03.2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/34545>.

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