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Conversations from the Edge of Architecture

(2021)

What is the potential of conversation as a process to address structural racism within environmental activist groups in architecture?

"Not just any talk is conversation Not any talk raises consciousness

Good conversation has an edge

It opens your eyes to something

It quickens your ears and

Good conversation reverberates

It keeps on talking in your mind later in the day;

The next day, you find yourself

Still conversing with what was said

The reverberation afterward

Is the very raising of consciousness

Your mind and heart have been moved

You are at another level with your reflections."

-James Hillman


Unlike people, structures seem poorly equipped to handle conversation. One voice controls the narrative of structures and it's an old voice. A voice as cold as stone and as fixed as stone too. The voice doesn't seem to be connected to any one person, rather, it is an echo of hundres and feels like half of them are dead. This makes it hard to answer back and engage with: echoes don't have ears and, once the soft cartilage has eroded, neither do skeletons. Despite this, there are always people willing to try and create new discourse with structure. Members of contemporary activist groups willing to put time and effort to throw their voices together, trying to engage structures in conversation. However, these groups are not immune from the same old problesm that continue to echo across society. One voice takes over. It does not speak for everyone and so, inevitably it fells, someone is at the edge of conversation.

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