In situ: Conversations on architecture and beyond

In a moment when a large amount of the world population is locked down, removed from social physical contact and forced to negotiate between isolation, interiority and connectivity in unprecedented ways - the Americas Society in collaboration with the Center for Architecture decide to digitally launch the public program In Situ: Conversations on Architecture and Beyond. 

Curated by Laura González Fierro and Agustin Schang In Situ will start as a digital series. Inviting architecture practitioners, scholars, researchers and thinkers, to contribute with a weekly post about spatial ideas and thoughts around the inside, the outside and the in-between space(s). As a way to understand how spatially we are navigating this crisis but also how are we shaping this new everyday experience of the civitas across the Americas and the world at large.

Based on the program's original format of a domestic gathering, where knowledge could be promoted and exchanged through conversations, we decided to translate these dialogues to the digital realm, where posts, re-posts, stories, comments, and likes could help shape different ideas about architecture, culture, and the future of our cities. Ultimately, In Situ will represent an opportunity to collectively reflect where the architecture discipline is at, how it is transforming, and how it is going to help shape a better world for the future.

We are thrilled to have you join the conversation - welcome!

Collaboration with Agustin Schang
Year: 2020
Location: Americas Society Visual Arts’ Instagram profile

Series I: Interior, Exterior, and the In-Between with amazing contributions from:

1.) Florencia Rodriguez — April 27, 2020 with “Bokeh”

2.) Wonne Icks — May 4, 2020 with “On Architecture and Uncertainty”

3.) José Esparza Chong Cuy - May 11, 2020 with “Chinatowns”

4.) Gloria Cabral - May 18, 2020 with “#GettingHome”

5.) Alejandra Celedón - May 25, 2020 with “Distancing - Strike - Detention - Suspension”

6.) Gabriela de Matos - June 15, 2020 with “Other —possible— world configurations”

7.) Camilo Restrepo - June 22, 2020 with “History can not be touched without changing it”

8.) Sandra Barclay - June 29, 2020 with “Limaná”

9.) Jerome Haferd - July 6, 2020 with “A Geography of Practice”

10.) Mariana Ordóñez Grajales - July 13, 2020 with “Preserving the Vernacular”

11.) Enrique Norten - July 20, 2020 with “The (new) process of city making”

12.) Milton Braga - July 27, 2020 with “Obra Viva”

August 4, 2020 —note from the curators—

Some of the multiple literal translations of the Latin phrase In Situ is of something or someone being “on-site” or “in position.” It also could mean ”locally,” “on the premises,” or “in place” to describe where an event takes or took place. When an unexpected occurrence affects at a global scale, what are the particular impacts on a complex, diverse, uneven territory as the Americas?⠀
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Since the beginning of the COVID crisis, we invited a group of architecture practitioners and thinkers to reflect on how this crisis was —and still is— affecting our spaces. From blurred domestic interiors to new perceptions about time and belonging, reflections on history, the city, to challenging ideas on how to envision the living future and finding other possible world configurations, this series brought along a network of multi-continental experiences that help shape the notion of closeness despite being, most of us, isolated for months.⠀
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An In Situ technique usually tends to be more labor and time intensive, however, it is more flexible in responding to changes that may arise. When everybody asks how Architecture will reshape itself after the pandemic, perhaps, this collection of experiences about the interior, the exterior, and the in-between embraces the idea of an open-ended response, promoting meaningful connections that reveal that we are all much closer than we think.⠀

PHOTOMONTAGE: STUDIO FIERRO ARCHITECTURE PLLC