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| 400x253 | |
| Martin Pawley, ARCHIGRAM, Tony Dugdale, Cedric Price | |
| Archigram Archives |
“Free Seed Offer” (‘Seed issue’) ‘Archi-zones’ communications and landscapes. Eleven sheets 400mm x 253mm, stapled on left and folded in half forming 22 ‘pages’. Various types, weights, colours of paper and range of one, two and three colour printing. Packet of Night Scented Stock seeds stapled to page 11. Two loose flyers: Architectural Design and Nottingham School of Architecture. Unpriced
Editor: Peter Cook. Editorial Assistant: Geoff Taunton. Consulting: The Archigram Group: Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, Mike Webb. US: Envirolab, Dept. of Urban Design, UCLA, LA. Cover: Tony Rickaby.
ARCHIGRAM 9, 1970
Interview with Dennis Crompton
Dennis Crompton
So, now we’re in 1970, so there’s a gap between 8 and 9 of two, two and a half years. Archigram 9 was stapled together, was in a particular order, wasn’t A3! But it did, it was the gardener’s issue. The guy I just mentioned, Tony Rickaby, actually designed the cover for this with David. There was another guy who was appearing round about now, Barnard, Mike Barnard, working with David.
So, the various things on here carry over into the exhibition. This is where the dog came from, and the electronic spade and fork appear in this thing; and the garden shed, the hut, the garden gnome. ...
“Free Seed Offer” (‘Seed issue’) ‘Archi-zones’ communications and landscapes. Eleven sheets 400mm x 253mm, stapled on left and folded in half forming 22 ‘pages’. Various types, weights, colours of paper and range of one, two and three colour printing. Packet of Night Scented Stock seeds stapled to page 11. Two loose flyers: Architectural Design and Nottingham School of Architecture. Unpriced
Editor: Peter Cook. Editorial Assistant: Geoff Taunton. Consulting: The Archigram Group: Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, Mike Webb. US: Envirolab, Dept. of Urban Design, UCLA, LA. Cover: Tony Rickaby.
ARCHIGRAM 9, 1970
Interview with Dennis Crompton
Dennis Crompton
So, now we’re in 1970, so there’s a gap between 8 and 9 of two, two and a half years. Archigram 9 was stapled together, was in a particular order, wasn’t A3! But it did, it was the gardener’s issue. The guy I just mentioned, Tony Rickaby, actually designed the cover for this with David. There was another guy who was appearing round about now, Barnard, Mike Barnard, working with David.
So, the various things on here carry over into the exhibition. This is where the dog came from, and the electronic spade and fork appear in this thing; and the garden shed, the hut, the garden gnome. I think, I don’t know quite for sure, but the garden gnome featured in our office. I think I still have him somewhere. And that was largely Diana Jowsey, who first of all was a student of mine, then as she moved up in the AA became a student of Peter’s, and then came to work with us in our office. Geoff Taunton’s again working on this, and you were asking about Chrysalis; at this time, they were called Enviro-Lab, but that’s who that is.
And this, as the editorial said, introduced the concept of Archi-Zones, and again, it was just an idea of networks, of the way that, by this time, by 1970, communication – both physical transportation and electronic communication – had become very different from what it was at the beginning of the Sixties. At the beginning of the Sixties, if you wanted to send something to New York or Los Angeles or Japan, you put it in an envelope, you put it into a red-box at the end of the street, and anything up to six weeks later or whatever, it appeared in Los Angeles or wherever. By now, you know, there were air mail flights taking stuff on a regular basis, you always had air mail but it was not something you put anything of any weight, you wrote on this sort-of tissue paper and put it in this very thin envelope.
Kester Rattenbury
What is this printed with, is this lithograph again?
Dennis Crompton
Oh yes, it’s all offset litho -- the only exception to offset litho (well, two exceptions) is where like this cover isn’t a screen-print, it’s two colour printing. The only exception is letterpress printing in number 2. And then the silk-screen printing goes in three issues actually on those, it’s only a brown lining on some of the covers in number 5. But you can see the quality of the litho, although not fantastic, had got good enough to do a reversed-out type, which you could have done in the Triennale one, it was very much less successful in number 6.
Kester Rattenbury
It lost its sharpness?
Dennis Crompton
It lost its sharpness, partly because of the way that it was made. I mean, by then professional lithography was something quite different. Where you’d get film made, if it was reversed or positive, the presses were capable of being very accurate, but not the High Street presses -- and certainly not the guys on the High Street who made the plates.
So this, as somebody pointed out, is a variety of samples of coloured paper used in this issue, and mostly single colour printing, but two or three sheets have got two colour printing on them. Cedric there again, Tony Dugdale. Now this was a bit of a pain because there really wasn’t continuous tone printing, not at a reasonable price, so there’s just an impression of what the original painting was like, but this mask is hand produced, as are quite a number. I think in the ephemera for number 9, for this issue, you’ve got the artwork for the cover and the colour separations. Two colour printing, but not half-tone; can’t have everything!
Kester Rattenbury
Have the colours faded much?
Dennis Crompton
No. No, the paper, like all paper, has discoloured, yes, but the printing inks I don’t think have faded. I mean the worst is the second issue, the letterpress, was printed onto a very poor quality paper and that has yellowed. I’ve some pages that are so yellow you can hardly read the type on them.
Kester Rattenbury
And that’s the one the money went on?
Dennis Crompton
Yes, that’s the one the money went on. Not on the paper, but it went on the typesetting.
Kester Rattenbury
Was David more involved in the layouts of this one?
Dennis Crompton
He could well have been because by this time he’d come back from Blacksburg. There was that period from ’66 to ’68 when he was in the States, and we virtually, apart from the odd rude postcard, didn’t hear from him at all. But then he came back, in late ’68 I think it was. Or it must have been ’67 because he did the inflatable suit, unless he did that before he went. I can’t remember now, you’ll have to ask David.
Ah yes; this is your Chrysalis lot. That’s Chris Dawson, somewhere amongst these are the photographs of the inflatable dome they did, the mile-long mirrored dome for Admirer Breckeridge And we were doing the Osaka exhibition. And there’s a lot on Isozaki’s pavilion, all the robots under the Tange roof; oh, a bit of animal infestation and Tony Rickaby writing about what’s on the cover now. So, there we are.
Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, Tony Rickaby, Geoff Taunton, Michael Webb
ARCHIZONE QUESTIONNAIRE PART 2
NOW YOU CAN DO IT
PLEASE DESCRIBE HERE THE WORK WITH WHICH YOU ARE AT PRESENT INVOLVED
…………
…………
…………
SEND A PICTURE OR REPORT ON THE ABOVE IF POSSIBLE. IS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON WHICH YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT? IF SO WHAT?
…………
…………
…………
IS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD ABOUT WHICH WE OUGHT TO KNOW?
…………
…………
…………
SEND A PICTURE OR REPORT ON THE ABOVE IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU PLAN TO TRAVEL IN THE NEXT YEAR WHAT WILL BE YOUR ITINERARY?
…………
…………
…………
WHAT ARE YOUR THREE MAIN AREAS OF INTEREST?
1
2
3
WHICH DISCIPLINES, BESIDES STRAIGHT ARCHITECTURE DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH?
…………
…………
…………
WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS QUESTIONNAIRE RETURN IT TO:
ARCHIZONES
59 ABERDARE GDNS.
LONDON NW6
PASTE A PHOTO OF YOURSELF HERE
SPADE
KEEP MOVING
As the architectural profession prepares to inter itself in the mausoleum of its inflexible whims, so, speeding overhead fugitive thinkers carry the good news from besieged college to maximum security school. While you concentrate on pipe-sizing they are drinking champagne in airport bars and rapping with each other all over Europe. When asked why he pursued so much money lecturing, one replied ‘because it’s there’. Is it really inspiring to be shown slides in foreign languages – to hear names dropped – to buy copies of other people’s magazines: to see your worst suspicions confirmed … they really do have much more fun down there. Names, names, names, and thoughts with price tags. There is freedom in travel – especially when it is free. When Constantinople fell many of the texts of the ancients spread far and wide in consequence, in that way we got our Renaissance. With the fall of ELITIST ARCHITECTURE we may find the same thing happening again.
RUPERT SPADE
THE BOX
SERIOUS PROPOSAL:
A box with the following features:
(1) automatic projector
(2) tape recorder
(3) cassette containing lectures/information
(4) cassette ready for ‘reply’ programme
(5) pamphlets/fold-out exhibition
(6) universal electric plug
(7) instructions
(8) size/weight for back of mini/railway carriage door, one person carrying.
BOX IS SO SIMPLE ANYONE CAN PLUG IN AND BEAM AT WALL 15 FEET AWAY … SCHOOL ‘A’ PROGRAMS ONE LECTURE AND ONE DEBATE ON TAPES, ONE OF MORE RONEO PLATES OF CHAT … SENDS TO SCHOOL ‘B’? … BOX IS PLAYED … COMMENT OF GROUP LISTENING AT ‘B’ IS RECORDED AND MAILED ON TO ‘C’ OR TO BASE … AND SO ON … THE BOX IS FOLLOWED UP BY OTHER BOXES CIRCULATING … PROGRAMMES ORIGINATING FROM ALL POINTS ON CIRCUIT … BASE ACTS AS COLLECTION POINT FOR DISCUSSIONS … BOX IS INITIATING ITEM OF NATIONAL NETWORK … REGULAR BOX LOCATIONS OR LECTUREPAK INSTRUMENTS … MORE SOPHISTICATED OPTIONAL EXTRAS ADDED LATER …
the important thing is to get something as simple going NOW.
PETER COOK
DUGDALE’S 28
28 IN NUMBER
28 TOGETHER AND 28 APART
28 TO CHARM YOU AND 28 TO NOT
28 APART AND 28 IN DUPLICATE
28 IN TRIPLICATE AND SEVERAL TIMES
28 IN QUADRUPLICATE
28 SCHOOLS WITH THE DESOLATE SADNESS OF DISAPPOINTED STUDENTS AND DISEMBODIED STAFF IN TRANSIT TO AN ARCHITECTURAL NOWHERE
28 IN NUMBER
28 APART AND NONE OF US TOGETHER
(there are approximately 28 schools of architecture in the United Kingdom)
THE CEDRIC PRICE COLUMN
The major justification for the existence of any form of advanced voluntary organised education should be that it enables its users TO DISTORT TIME AND LOCATION IN THE LEARNING PROCESS.
While students are at present one of the most mobile social groups of technologically advanced societies the nature of their own particular production plants – schools, colleges and universities, is static, intro-spective, parochial, inflexible and not very useful.
Architectural students suffer from this rotten servicing system as much as anyone. The result – apparent in every school of architecture – is boredom and/or discontent of students and staff alike; lack of self-conviction follows.
In fact the maintenance of the staff/student concept in architectural education is of the major causes of its accelerating impotence.
Definitions for PSEUDS:
1 Those who pay to learn other people’s mistakes are called STUDENTS.
2 Those who are paid to learn by their own mistakes are called PRACTITIONERS.
3 Those who imagine that the repetition of mistakes in an ordered well-defined way is intellectually beneficial are called TEACHERS.
There is no reason to suppose that it is best to receive between the ages of 17 and 25 and to dispense at any time beyond that age. The receiving/dispensing equation is one which should never be written. CLASSIFICATION OF PEOPLE RELATED TO PARTICULAR OPERATIONAL MENTAL PATTERNING IS FALSE. However, it is bloody convenient for lazy administrators and cowardly academics.
U.K. 1970
- 6,000 architectural students with an expensive 4/5-year ticket to work – or waste.
- 10 schools of architecture showing signs of advanced decay.
- The remainder of schools concealing such signs.
If the learning value of distortion of time and location is to be realised in time, then we must move FAST – all of us – on feet, by phone, tape, film ESP, with credit cards, coins on a string, other people’s birds or fellows – and even Local Authority money.
Joke – Q: If a single student occupies 9 sq. metres of static school space for five days a week, what has he lost? A: £200 per year travel money – spent on rental of that dust-covered-drawing-board space.
By MOVING to a better scene we not only show constructive discontent but reinforce the value of our chosen node. Even some existing schools of architecture could become useful, uneven, unbalanced work centres for people in a hurry.
(THOUGHT: 6,000 ‘students’ and 22,000 ‘architects’ in U.K. Goodness. If we squeeze up a bit and keep the scene on line for 24 hours 7 days a week we can all fit in.)
A dynamic control problem for the administrators is created. No long can they ask – ‘how many students and staff for how long?’ Rather they must budget for the continuous servicing of nomadic activists – of all ages.
HIT THE ROAD – FOR A 50-YEAR JOURNEY.
NOW YOU CAN DO IT
PLEASE DESCRIBE HERE THE WORK WITH WHICH YOU ARE AT PRESENT INVOLVED
…………
…………
…………
SEND A PICTURE OR REPORT ON THE ABOVE IF POSSIBLE. IS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON WHICH YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT? IF SO WHAT?
…………
…………
…………
IS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD ABOUT WHICH WE OUGHT TO KNOW?
…………
…………
…………
SEND A PICTURE OR REPORT ON THE ABOVE IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU PLAN TO TRAVEL IN THE NEXT YEAR WHAT WILL BE YOUR ITINERARY?
…………
…………
…………
WHAT ARE YOUR THREE MAIN AREAS OF INTEREST?
1
2
3
WHICH DISCIPLINES, BESIDES STRAIGHT ARCHITECTURE DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH?
…………
…………
…………
WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS QUESTIONNAIRE RETURN IT TO:
ARCHIZONES
59 ABERDARE GDNS.
LONDON NW6
PASTE A PHOTO OF YOURSELF HERE
SPADE
KEEP MOVING
As the architectural profession prepares to inter itself in the mausoleum of its inflexible whims, so, speeding overhead fugitive thinkers carry the good news from besieged college to maximum security school. While you concentrate on pipe-sizing they are drinking champagne in airport bars and rapping with each other all over Europe. When asked why he pursued so much money lecturing, one replied ‘because it’s there’. Is it really inspiring to be shown slides in foreign languages – to hear names dropped – to buy copies of other people’s magazines: to see your worst suspicions confirmed … they really do have much more fun down there. Names, names, names, and thoughts with price tags. There is freedom in travel – especially when it is free. When Constantinople fell many of the texts of the ancients spread far and wide in consequence, in that way we got our Renaissance. With the fall of ELITIST ARCHITECTURE we may find the same thing happening again.
RUPERT SPADE
THE BOX
SERIOUS PROPOSAL:
A box with the following features:
(1) automatic projector
(2) tape recorder
(3) cassette containing lectures/information
(4) cassette ready for ‘reply’ programme
(5) pamphlets/fold-out exhibition
(6) universal electric plug
(7) instructions
(8) size/weight for back of mini/railway carriage door, one person carrying.
BOX IS SO SIMPLE ANYONE CAN PLUG IN AND BEAM AT WALL 15 FEET AWAY … SCHOOL ‘A’ PROGRAMS ONE LECTURE AND ONE DEBATE ON TAPES, ONE OF MORE RONEO PLATES OF CHAT … SENDS TO SCHOOL ‘B’? … BOX IS PLAYED … COMMENT OF GROUP LISTENING AT ‘B’ IS RECORDED AND MAILED ON TO ‘C’ OR TO BASE … AND SO ON … THE BOX IS FOLLOWED UP BY OTHER BOXES CIRCULATING … PROGRAMMES ORIGINATING FROM ALL POINTS ON CIRCUIT … BASE ACTS AS COLLECTION POINT FOR DISCUSSIONS … BOX IS INITIATING ITEM OF NATIONAL NETWORK … REGULAR BOX LOCATIONS OR LECTUREPAK INSTRUMENTS … MORE SOPHISTICATED OPTIONAL EXTRAS ADDED LATER …
the important thing is to get something as simple going NOW.
PETER COOK
DUGDALE’S 28
28 IN NUMBER
28 TOGETHER AND 28 APART
28 TO CHARM YOU AND 28 TO NOT
28 APART AND 28 IN DUPLICATE
28 IN TRIPLICATE AND SEVERAL TIMES
28 IN QUADRUPLICATE
28 SCHOOLS WITH THE DESOLATE SADNESS OF DISAPPOINTED STUDENTS AND DISEMBODIED STAFF IN TRANSIT TO AN ARCHITECTURAL NOWHERE
28 IN NUMBER
28 APART AND NONE OF US TOGETHER
(there are approximately 28 schools of architecture in the United Kingdom)
THE CEDRIC PRICE COLUMN
The major justification for the existence of any form of advanced voluntary organised education should be that it enables its users TO DISTORT TIME AND LOCATION IN THE LEARNING PROCESS.
While students are at present one of the most mobile social groups of technologically advanced societies the nature of their own particular production plants – schools, colleges and universities, is static, intro-spective, parochial, inflexible and not very useful.
Architectural students suffer from this rotten servicing system as much as anyone. The result – apparent in every school of architecture – is boredom and/or discontent of students and staff alike; lack of self-conviction follows.
In fact the maintenance of the staff/student concept in architectural education is of the major causes of its accelerating impotence.
Definitions for PSEUDS:
1 Those who pay to learn other people’s mistakes are called STUDENTS.
2 Those who are paid to learn by their own mistakes are called PRACTITIONERS.
3 Those who imagine that the repetition of mistakes in an ordered well-defined way is intellectually beneficial are called TEACHERS.
There is no reason to suppose that it is best to receive between the ages of 17 and 25 and to dispense at any time beyond that age. The receiving/dispensing equation is one which should never be written. CLASSIFICATION OF PEOPLE RELATED TO PARTICULAR OPERATIONAL MENTAL PATTERNING IS FALSE. However, it is bloody convenient for lazy administrators and cowardly academics.
U.K. 1970
- 6,000 architectural students with an expensive 4/5-year ticket to work – or waste.
- 10 schools of architecture showing signs of advanced decay.
- The remainder of schools concealing such signs.
If the learning value of distortion of time and location is to be realised in time, then we must move FAST – all of us – on feet, by phone, tape, film ESP, with credit cards, coins on a string, other people’s birds or fellows – and even Local Authority money.
Joke – Q: If a single student occupies 9 sq. metres of static school space for five days a week, what has he lost? A: £200 per year travel money – spent on rental of that dust-covered-drawing-board space.
By MOVING to a better scene we not only show constructive discontent but reinforce the value of our chosen node. Even some existing schools of architecture could become useful, uneven, unbalanced work centres for people in a hurry.
(THOUGHT: 6,000 ‘students’ and 22,000 ‘architects’ in U.K. Goodness. If we squeeze up a bit and keep the scene on line for 24 hours 7 days a week we can all fit in.)
A dynamic control problem for the administrators is created. No long can they ask – ‘how many students and staff for how long?’ Rather they must budget for the continuous servicing of nomadic activists – of all ages.
HIT THE ROAD – FOR A 50-YEAR JOURNEY.
