What is the economic context of the research projects discussed in this issue?
In “Task Environment,” Arindam Dutta has demonstrated a shift in architectural research from a state-funded research-industrial-academic complex to ‘creative economy’ funding structures dominant today. While some projects shown in this isssue are rooted in the legacy of military and industrial interests (see Wisnioski and Zacharias) and the research university (Günel, Barber), others operate within the structure of clients (Brugger), the art market (Leung, Riano, Armstrong, Hoang), the design studio (Kaseman and Smith, Hovenkotter and Lamphier, Ponte and Zhai and McGown), multinational corporations (Ponte, Carver), marketing research (Montgomery), volunteer workforces (Orff), public-private partnerships (Zhai and McGown), municipalities (Jaque), regulating agencies (Geiger, Heindl), and non-profit funding (Buonocore, Miller, Oyarzun and Fernández-Muro). What funding and labor systems do these projects operate within, and where is there room for experimentation with these structures of research?
Janette Kim
ARPA Journal
LABORATORY SERIES. No.09. VLF and Stealth Object Tripods in Mono Lake, CA, 2012-13. Devices conceived as part of a portable media-rig for Venue, a sixteen-month expedition that surveyed and recorded overlooked sites across North America. Inspired by images of early trekking missions, the toolbox re-imagined a standard set of topographic tripods from a glow-in-the-dark Durer grid to a low-frequency space weather radio. Photo Courtesy of Nicola Twilley and Geoff Manaugh, Venue.
