This is not a tower
BAR Project Residency Research Presentation
Cordova
Barcelona, Spain
2019
“This is not a tower, a skyscraper, in the American sense, this tower is a fluid mass that
bursts through like a geyser.”
- Jean Nouvel
These words were spoken by French architect Jean Nouvel about his now infamous Torre Glòries - knowingly or not - echoed the famous quote by René
Magritte. This is not a Tower is a study on water and/as capital began during my residency at BAR project (Barcelona). The stream of investigation is guided by the flows of water that have been circulating at the bedrock of Barcelona’s architectural spectacles and the capital shaping large construction projects and its tourism industry.
Taking as a starting point the Barcelona Universal Exposition (1888) water is found to be a determining agent behind most of the city’s transformation. The project attempts to reveal this natural resource’s intrinsic relations to the pleasure economy and the urban development of the city, while also exploring its value and use as a marketing tool. The first chapter of This is not a tower takes form as a non-linear narrative, part truth, part fiction, drawing from literature, economics, architectural theory, and pop culture to speculate on a future where Barcelona extends into the sea.
On the occasion of this presentation Giorgos Kallis, professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) was invited as a guest speaker. His research on degrowth combines institutional, ecological economic and historical analysis to explain how the idea of economic growth came to be hegemonic, why it is limited, and what alternatives there are to growth-based development. Following the presentation This is not a tower, he presented his new book Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care, published by Stanford University Press in 2019.
Biography
Giorgos Kallis is an ecological economist and political ecologist working on environmental justice and limits to growth. He has a Bachelor's degree in chemistry and a Masters in environmental engineering from Imperial College, a PhD in environmental policy from the University of the Aegean, and a second Masters in economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. He is an ICREA professor since 2010. Before coming to Barcelona, Giorgos was a Marie Curie International Fellow at the Energy and Resources group at the University of California-Berkeley.
This is not a tower is organised by BAR project within the frame of Boundaries, a series of events that explores the economic, relational and geopolitical limits of bodies, cities and natural resources. Upcoming events by Jimena Croceri and Chiara Cartuccia.
With the support of the Republic of Cyprus Ministry of Culture and Education
Taking as a starting point the Barcelona Universal Exposition (1888) water is found to be a determining agent behind most of the city’s transformation. The project attempts to reveal this natural resource’s intrinsic relations to the pleasure economy and the urban development of the city, while also exploring its value and use as a marketing tool. The first chapter of This is not a tower takes form as a non-linear narrative, part truth, part fiction, drawing from literature, economics, architectural theory, and pop culture to speculate on a future where Barcelona extends into the sea.
On the occasion of this presentation Giorgos Kallis, professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) was invited as a guest speaker. His research on degrowth combines institutional, ecological economic and historical analysis to explain how the idea of economic growth came to be hegemonic, why it is limited, and what alternatives there are to growth-based development. Following the presentation This is not a tower, he presented his new book Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care, published by Stanford University Press in 2019.
Biography
Giorgos Kallis is an ecological economist and political ecologist working on environmental justice and limits to growth. He has a Bachelor's degree in chemistry and a Masters in environmental engineering from Imperial College, a PhD in environmental policy from the University of the Aegean, and a second Masters in economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. He is an ICREA professor since 2010. Before coming to Barcelona, Giorgos was a Marie Curie International Fellow at the Energy and Resources group at the University of California-Berkeley.
This is not a tower is organised by BAR project within the frame of Boundaries, a series of events that explores the economic, relational and geopolitical limits of bodies, cities and natural resources. Upcoming events by Jimena Croceri and Chiara Cartuccia.
With the support of the Republic of Cyprus Ministry of Culture and Education
