James Taylor-Foster
Selected writing 2015 – 2020
  • About
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Publications
  • Defiance
  • 2015
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2020
  • Defiance

LOBBY No. 3 seeks to highlight the collapse of normative ideals, discourses, frameworks and aesthetics, by exploring ‘Defiance’ through the eyes of those who sit on either side of the norm’s boundaries, as well as those who walk in-between them. From the mythical battle of David with Goliath to Pink Floyd’s infamous concert in Venice, Defiance sets out to explore the constantly shifting waters of defiance.

Fig 1. Cover

“In 1989, Pink Floyd performed a concert at the mouth of Venice’s Grand Canal, quite literally shaking the city to its core. Fans poured into the fragile city in the hundreds of thousands, hanging from lampposts and clambering onto rooftops to see the band play what would become their only Venetian performance. Enter The Seminar Room, where James Taylor-Foster leads a discussion on the interplay between public events and the spaces they occupy.”

“Through a series of essays situated in Venice, Versailles, Mumbai, Tokyo, Montréal, London and Belgrade, The Seminar Room reinforces the notion that the city has “the capacity to act as a ready-made, historically-layered stage and set for festive events of all scales to take hold.”

“In Venice, the public campi transform into performance spaces as the Biennale Danza takes to the streets. In Belgrade, the waterfront becomes the frontline as architects clash with foreign developers over the future of a storied quarter. In Mumbai, public spaces and streets are one and the same: spatial elasticity means traffic gridlock can become a playground within the hour. In Tokyo, roads disappear in the wake of pedestrian dominance by those seeking a divine presence. In Montréal, a public square of Rockefeller proportions failed to become a lively spontaneous space as planned, instead serving as a static landscape. In Versailles, visitor choreography inspires frustration, bewilderment and awe as selfie sticks and opulence battle for attention. Together, this clever collection of short essays tells a story on the true influence of planning and people on the life of the city.”

Finn MacLeod, Meaningful Defiance in a Disengaged Culture
Fig 2. Reception Rooms by Hikaru Nissanke and Jon Lopez
Fig 3. Seven Studies Across Seven Cities
Editors Regner Ramos, Mrinal S. Rammohan, James Taylor-Foster, Stylianos Giamarelos, Laura Narvaez, Nahed Jawad, Marcela Aragüez Art Direction Laura Silke, Moa Pårup

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James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
  • CuratorialI.
  • ProjectsII.
  • PublicationsIII.
  • SpeakingIV.
  • WritingV.
I.Curatorial
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD2020
  • Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron2019
  • Cruising Pavilion2019
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design2019
  • Sigurd Lewerentz: Freestanding2018
  • Space Popular: Value in the Virtual2018
  • Boxen at ArkDes2018
  • You Are Not Alone2017
  • In Therapy2016
  • Keeping Up Appearances2015
II.Projects
  • Plug-in Poesi2020
  • Pillow Talks2020
  • 〰️ Interdependence, a portrait of Stockholm2020
  • exhibiting architecture, exhibition models2020
  • Future Architecture Rooms2020
  • SOFT GOSSIP2020
  • alvedon series2020
  • asmrology2020
  • Mukbang Veneziano2020
  • Körper2019
  • Architecture on Display2018
  • Planetary Protocols2018
  • The Stones of Venice: A Kimono2017
  • Misunderstandings (A Reliquary)2016
III.Publications
  • Living on Water2017
  • Faith2016
  • Elemental Living2016
  • Abundance2016
  • Clairvoyance2015
  • People, Place, Purpose2015
  • Defiance2015
IV.Speaking
  • Future Architecture CEx2020 Focus Talks2020
  • ASMR at ArkDes: a Virtual Vernissage2020
  • Modevisningar är den flyktigaste formen av arkitektur2018
  • Attention, Accelerated2017
  • Exhibition Models2017
  • Conversation with Kenneth Frampton2017
  • Interview: “Profil” (RTV4 Slovenia)2017
V.Writing
  • What’s Mine Is Theirs: an interview with Max Lamb2020
  • No Time to Stand and Stare2020
  • 〰️ Screen Glow Sedation2020
  • 〰️ Don’t Fear a Snowflake2020
  • Making Believe with Charlap Hyman & Herrero2019
  • Foreword: On the Manifesto2019
  • On Practical Futurology2019
  • 〰️ To Speak As If In Capital Letters2019
  • In Riga, A Conference On Architecture and Migration2019
  • Baltoscandia: A Complex Utopia2018
  • On the Cruising Pavilion2018
  • 〰️ A Weak Monument2018
  • A Diary of Virgil Abloh’s First Louis Vuitton Show2018
  • 〰️ The Boat is Leaking. The Captain Lied.2018
  • 〰️ Virgil Abloh, Editor in Brief2018
  • Sigurd Lewerentz: Villa Edstrand2018
  • 〰️ On Liquid Modernity2017
  • 〰️ #003399, #FFCC00; The Meaning of a Flag2017
  • Pillars of Society: “Jantelagen”2017
  • Exhibiting the Postmodern2017
  • Future Architecture and the Idea of Europe2017
  • Domains of Influence2017
  • Concrete Mountain2017
  • Ingress: Black Rock City2017
  • In Dialogue With Gravity2017
  • Rem, Redacted2016
  • Media States, Or The State of Media2016
  • A Piece of England to Call One’s Own2016
  • Upon This Rock (I Will Build My Church)2016
  • The Design of the Species2016
  • Venice Isn’t Sinking, It’s Flooding2016
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2020
Publications
  • Defiance 2015
  • for the Seminar Room in LOBBY #3, "Defiance"
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LOBBY No. 3 seeks to highlight the collapse of normative ideals, discourses, frameworks and aesthetics, by exploring ‘Defiance’ through the eyes of those who sit on either side of the norm’s boundaries, as well as those who walk in-between them. From the mythical battle of David with Goliath to Pink Floyd’s infamous concert in Venice, Defiance sets out to explore the constantly shifting waters of defiance.

Fig 1. Cover

“In 1989, Pink Floyd performed a concert at the mouth of Venice’s Grand Canal, quite literally shaking the city to its core. Fans poured into the fragile city in the hundreds of thousands, hanging from lampposts and clambering onto rooftops to see the band play what would become their only Venetian performance. Enter The Seminar Room, where James Taylor-Foster leads a discussion on the interplay between public events and the spaces they occupy.”

“Through a series of essays situated in Venice, Versailles, Mumbai, Tokyo, Montréal, London and Belgrade, The Seminar Room reinforces the notion that the city has “the capacity to act as a ready-made, historically-layered stage and set for festive events of all scales to take hold.”

“In Venice, the public campi transform into performance spaces as the Biennale Danza takes to the streets. In Belgrade, the waterfront becomes the frontline as architects clash with foreign developers over the future of a storied quarter. In Mumbai, public spaces and streets are one and the same: spatial elasticity means traffic gridlock can become a playground within the hour. In Tokyo, roads disappear in the wake of pedestrian dominance by those seeking a divine presence. In Montréal, a public square of Rockefeller proportions failed to become a lively spontaneous space as planned, instead serving as a static landscape. In Versailles, visitor choreography inspires frustration, bewilderment and awe as selfie sticks and opulence battle for attention. Together, this clever collection of short essays tells a story on the true influence of planning and people on the life of the city.”

Finn MacLeod, Meaningful Defiance in a Disengaged Culture
Fig 2. Reception Rooms by Hikaru Nissanke and Jon Lopez
Fig 3. Seven Studies Across Seven Cities
Editors Regner Ramos, Mrinal S. Rammohan, James Taylor-Foster, Stylianos Giamarelos, Laura Narvaez, Nahed Jawad, Marcela Aragüez Art Direction Laura Silke, Moa Pårup
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