#eHTC #mediaunit
#elective
#envhum Bloque de Conocimientos V
Modelos Operativos y Procesos Salvajes
Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB)
Viña del Mar, Chile
2025
Fourth-year media unit
The course Operational Models and Savage Processes critically examines the theoretical, political, and technical scope of operational models, as well as their place within the visual culture of architecture and the management of environmental information. Students will explore the theoretical–practical potential of images and digital operational models to address regional landscape case studies, with a strong emphasis on processes of extraction, construction material production, and infrastructure development. [Operational Models and Savage Processes] is a course situated halfway between theory and media units
#eHTC
#historyunit
#drawing
Historia II
Escuela de Arquitectura, LCI Veritas
San José, Costa Rica
2023-2024
Second-year histoy unit
The course addressed the challenges inherent to the production of historical discourse within the context of contemporary art history and the canonical texts that have organized its study. Far from being conceived as a “general history of architecture” course, History II reflects on the limits and scope of studying Western history as a succession of “mega-periods” such as the “Middle Ages” and the “Modern Era.”
This unit proposed the study of Western architectural history from two fundamental dimensions: on the one hand, it focuses on iconography, primarily painting; on the other, it structures the study of architectural history through a general review of the organization of construction labor and a detailed examination of drawing techniques. The course thoroughly analyzes the systems of drawing used in art and architecture —including central perspective, parallel projection, demonstrative drawings, maps, axonometric drawings, oblique drawing, and military perspective— namely, perspective and anti-perspective —as manifestations of ideological and philosophical orientations that have informed contemporary understandings of the discipline of architecture.
#eHTC
#theoryunit
#arch&warfareTeoría III
Escuela de Arquitectura, LCI Veritas
San José, Costa Rica
2023-2024Second-year theory unit
This
theory unit identified and examined in depth the complex interactions between the militarization of urban and domestic environments and the adaptation of technologies developed during the interwar and postwar periods of the 20th century. It analyzed how these dynamics shaped regimes of governance and contemporary urban phenomena, all contrasted with the challenges and transformations of Modernity, and of European and American Modern architecture.
Strong emphasis was placed on the analysis of population migration between rural and urban contexts, as well as on the circulation of technologies and models for the administration of space. Urban research and planning were highlighted as a category that shared strategies and approaches with military planning, turning the city into a tool of belligerence and control, rather than merely the stage on which violent actions occur. The course provided an in-depth understanding of how these interrelations shaped our experience of the urban environment and how they continue to influence it today.
#eHTC
#theoryunit
#envhum
Teoría IV
Escuela de Arquitectura, LCI Veritas
San José,
Costa Rica
2021-2024Third-year theory unit
In 2016, architect, editor, and researcher Elise Hunchuck “reviewed and read every article on the Anthropocene ever published” (available in the Web of Science repository, the largest database accessible at the time, now operated by Clarivate Analytics). By then, “Anthropocene” had been cited in 12,407 indexed articles. This course took Hunchuck´s Reading the Anthopocene and its initial statistical and visual framework as a
poetical
departure point, and offered a navigational route through this ocean of literature dedicated to that elusive concept and its many —seemingly— irreconcilable appropiations, which nonetheless carried considerable “scientific impact” on the world and on academic publishing.
Yet, in any given case—economic, migratory, or environmental— the recognition of theoretical work as a praxis that leaves a mark on the world did not in itself ensure the agency of architectural discourse in the public, private, or any other sphere. It did, however, provide an unprecedented opportunity: to intellectually challenge the evocation of a dividing line between theory and professional practice in architecture, starting from the marginal position that the field still claims for itself. For all practical purposes, the course examined various tangible and expanded forms of theoretical production (publications, exhibitions, installations, land appropriation, deforestation, the organization of biennials, just war, the designation of protected areas, terrorism, architectural projects, border redefinition, the design of curricula, art performance, legislation development, sabotage, and more).
This theory unit aimed to critically rethink the relationship between architectural practice —especially the production of theory— and the key actors in contemporary debates on economic, migratory, environmental, health, and human rights crises. Special emphasis was placed on the relationship between architecture, environment, and ecology —a relationship whose increasing complexity and accelerated expansion within architectural discourse presented a unique opportunity to pursue this objective.
#eHTC
#theoryunit
#electiveunit
#envhum
#cement/concreteOptativa humanística
Escuela de Arquitectura, LCI Veritas
San José,
Costa Rica
2022-2024Fifth-year elective
2023-2024 Anchor unit of
“Paisajes de Cementación y Biografías no Autorizadas.
The course aimed to critically rethink the relationship between architectural practice—particularly the production of theory—and advanced approaches to the Anthropocene. It did so through the lens of theoretical, political, and aesthetic frameworks highlighted in environmental law and human rights conflicts and legal processes, “characterized not only by existing at the margins of the broadest application of the law within states, but also by challenging the boundaries between the living and the non-living, to the point of questioning what—and not only who—can be recognized as a subject of law.”
2022-2023 Teoría VI
#eHTC
#criticismunit
#typology
Crítica tipológica
Escuela de Arquitectura, LCI Veritas
San José,
Costa Rica
2023-2024Fourth-year criticism unit
2022-2023 Elevadores e inodoros
The course provided a visual, technical, and political framework for understanding the significance of two foundational typological elements in architecture most closely associated with the thesis of the benefits of “dense cities” (the skyscraper): the elevator and bathroom banks. It also stressed the relationship that critique—both in art and architecture—had with history and, secondly, with stylistic conventions characteristic of research writing, journalistic criticism, opinion writing, and wine criticism. More broadly, the course highlighted concrete possibilities for architects to engage with contemporary political, professional, and educational urgencies.
#Operaciones
#curatorialstudiesunit
#rogue“Estamos cerrados.” Curso(?) teórico-práctico
_Temporal
San José,
Costa Rica
11/sept/2021 - 30/oct/2021Independent course
w/ Erick Víquez, Floria Herrero and Roberto Carter
Los principales museos y galerías ofrecen textos murales debido a tres problemas —o, al menos, a lo que se percibe como problemas. El primero de ellos es la simple identificación, que se resuelve normalmente con la clásica etiqueta al estilo de una lápida, que detalla el autor de la obra, el título, la fecha, las dimensiones (información que, con toda seguridad, es innecesaria en el contexto del propio lugar de exposición), la procedencia, etc. La segunda y la tercera son un poco más complejas, y podrían caracterizarse como una ausencia (percibida) por parte de los espectadores de los conocimientos sobre arte necesarios para poner una obra en su contexto, y la supuesta incapacidad de la obra para comunicarse con ese público en sus propios términos. Si estos problemas son reales —y la mayoría de las grandes instituciones parecen pensar que sí lo son—, entonces se deduce que estos dispositivos textuales son absolutamente vitales a la hora de hacer exposiciones y, por lo tanto, deberían tener la calidad correspondiente. ¿Por qué, entonces, tantos textos de pared de museos y galerías son tan reduccionistas, tan poco ambiciosos intelectualmente, tan mal escritos y, a veces, tan intrusivos del espacio físico? Uno estaría tentado a pensar que estos textos no están escritos para un público especializado; el problema es que, si seguimos esta suposición, ¿cómo se justifica que los autores piensen que la mejor manera de llegar a este público no especializado sea a través de los textos más inocuos y repetitivos que uno pueda imaginar? Basta con pensar en un ejemplo típico con el que uno podría toparse en la descripción de una obra de artista como la "investigación de problemas concernientes al género, el poder, la comunidad y el lugar que esta ocupa en una sociedad mediada por las masas", una construcción que no sirve prácticamente para aclarar nada (si el artista estuviera realmente preocupado por esta lista de abstracciones tan atrevidas, seguramente sería obvio por su obra) y que no logra comunicar nada relativo a las experiencias propias del mirar y el pensar. See more ↗
#curatorialstudiesunit
#rogue
#contemporaryart
Intersecciones entre texto y curaduría
La Fototeca, Fundación Nacional para las Bellas Artes y la Cultura de Guatemala (FUNBA) y Galería Extra
Ciudad de
Guatemala
05-08/ago/2019
Seminar
Discursivity, Text, and Theory postgraduate unit, Diploma Program in Curatorship and Contemporary Art