New journal: Future Anterior

    From: Jorge Otero-Pailos
    To: futureanterior [at] columbia__edu
    Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 1:23 PM

    Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture Planning
    and Preservation launches the inaugural issue of Future
    Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation History, Theory and
    Criticism.

    Historic preservation is at an important moment of rethinking.
    The field has grown exponentially in America since its first
    academic program was founded at Columbia University in 1965.
    Although initially concerned only with buildings, preservation
    has recently expanded to include the protection and creative
    interpretation of entire urban environments, landscapes,
    highways, cultural traditions, artistic practices, and even
    specific "experiences" such as historic view sheds. Most
    importantly, historic preservation is beginning a significant
    re-clarification of its purposes, sharpening and deepening its
    focus on the contributions old architecture and artifacts make
    to our understanding of the human condition and how we should
    address and live in it.

    Future Anterior is the first and only journal in American
    academia to be devoted to the study and advancement of
    preservation, which brings together the interests of scholars
    and professionals in multiple disciplines such as architecture,
    art, history, philosophy, law, planning, materials science,
    cultural anthropology, conservation, and others.  Future
    Anterior establishes an important and much needed forum for the
    critical examination of this expanding discipline, to spur
    challenges of its motives, goals, forms of practice and results.

    The appearance of Future Anterior signals the maturation of the
    field of preservation and a shift away from nostalgic
    antiquarianism towards an active involvement in the
    understanding and creative transformation of human environments.
    This turn in preservation is reflected in an increased interest
    in historic architecture and artifacts as expressive resources
    of great public importance. The destruction of patrimony, from
    the colossal Buddhas in Afghanistan to New York's World Trade
    Center, is seen not just as barbarism but as sources of
    understanding about where we are going wrong and what we need to
    do next. In response, architects, planners, urban designers, and
    artists have been producing works which engage the public in new
    ways of reflecting and taking on the past not as constraint but
    as provocation.

    Jorge Otero-Pailos, Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation
    at Columbia University, founded Future Anterior as part of this
    rethinking and this provocation. The journal creates a much
    needed critical forum for advancing the understanding of the
    challenges and opportunities opened up by historic
    preservation's better understanding of its purposes and its
    expanding boundaries in the arts and in public life. "The line
    between creators and curators is no longer distinguishable,"
    said Otero-Pailos,--both are increasingly concerned with the
    historicity of their work and with its interpretation as such by
    specialized and general audiences."  Examples of this new
    cultural condition can be found the work of filmmakers such as
    Bill Morrison, who splices decaying silent film footage into new
    narratives, or the current "Seeing Double" exhibition at the
    Guggenheim New York which features collaborations between
    artists and conservators. The theater arts avant-garde is also
    exploring the historiographical questions raised by
    preservation. Doug Wright, described his current Pulitzer Prize
    winning Broadway play "I Am My Own Wife" as "a rumination on the
    preservation of history: Who records it and why? What drives its
    documentation?"  And in public life the same questions guide
    preservationists in interpreting just what the World Trade
    Center stood for and what we should be doing in the aftermath of
    its destruction.

    The publication of Future Anterior was made possible through the
    generous support of the Graduate School of Architecture,
    Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, and the
    Vinmont Foundation. Prof. Otero-Pailos chairs the journal's
    Editorial Board.The journal was produced by a student editorial
    staff including: Robert Garland Thomson, Editor-in-Chief; Jacqui
    Hogans, Assistant Editor; and Darby Noonan, Design Editor.

    Future Anterior is published semi-annually by the Historic
    Preservation Program, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning,
    and Preservation at Columbia University.

    For information please contact:

        Prof. Jorge Otero-Pailos
        GSAPP, Columbia University
        212-854-1172
        futureanterior [at] columbia__edu

    For subscription information write to:

        Future Anterior
        400 Avery Hall
        Columbia University
        1172 Amsterdam Avenue
        New York, NY 10027

    or visit: <URL:http://www.arch.columbia.edu/futureanterior>




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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:70
                   Distributed: Sunday, May 23, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-70-004
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