Liam Young from Tomorrows Thoughts Today is curating an exhibition and lecture on the work by the maverick ‘architect’ Mas Yendo.

Salvaged from the wreckage, Mas’ artifacts are evidence of a near future where labyrinthine, steel filaments mesh together like roots of an overgrown tree, mechanical elements bulge from decrepit structures, naked pipes wrap around each other in bondage. Loose wires, rusted steel panels, chipped paint, layered walls and the assimilation of organic entity and machine capture the essence of this city. Born in 1957 in Tokyo, Japan, his experimental works have been compiled in his monograph Ironic Diversions, published by Springer/Wien through Lebbeus Woods’  Research Institute of Experimental Architecture. He currently lives and works in New York City.

The exhibition titled E-X PROSTHESIS will be a collection of his extraordinary objects made from hacked military model kits and accompanying graphite drawings. Mas will give a lecture at 6.30 in the UCL Darwin lecture theater before opening the exhibition in the Bartlett School of Architecture Lobby Gallery.

Darryl Chen and Liam Young will be moderating a panel session at this year’s upcoming Festival of Urbanism, organized by the crew at This Is Not A Gateway. TTT will be joined by a cast of emerging and seasoned urbanists to discuss Productive Dystopia, or An Architecture of Unintended Consequences. Also on the panel will be Austin Williams (Future Cities Project); Karl Sharro (ManTowNHuman); Tomas Klassnik (Klassnik Corporation); Elena Pascolo and Alex Warnock-Smith (Urban Projects Bureau, Architectural Association); Finn Williams (Common Office); and Amin Taha (Amin Taha Architects). The night promises to be a lively one as we consider alternate ways of conceiving of the urban project beyond the blindly optimistic and optimistically futile. Spaces are free but with limited places on the night. 19.30 Friday Oct 23 Hanbury Hall, Spitalfields E1 6QR.

TINAG creates platforms for emerging academics, activists, human rights canvassers, artists, youth workers, filmmakers, architects, students and more, whose point of departure is the city.

If you’re in London this Wednesday 23rd September Liam Young will be speaking at the Launch for the first issue of the Bookazine Beyond: Short Stories on the Post Contemporary. The first volume is themed Scenarios and Speculations and includes contributions from Bruce Sterling, SuperStudio, Wes Jones, Aaron Betsky, Sam Jacob, Shumon Basar and many more. The event will begin with a presentation on Urban Fictions by Colin Fournier followed by a roundtable discussion with Liam Young, Sam Jacob and book editor Pedro Gadanho. (more…)

The Power of 8 project will be a featured partner of this year’s London Design Festival. London’s premier platform for showcasing design talent, the festival will run between 19 - 27 September in venues across the city, including the 22 Sep Power of 8 private view.

Meanwhile, the Power of 8 exhibition is gathering momentum. Long round table discussions, pinboard workshops and public events have given way to recircuiting, hacking, rendering and prototyping. The latest description of the emerging work is “a proposal for an alternate, augmented ecosystem”. Yeah, we can dig that.

The work from Unit 6, Liam Young and Paolo Zaide’s design studio at the Bartlett, will be on show from from the 27th June to the 4th July at the Bartlett Summer Show. The exhibition is the annual celebration of work at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Over 450 students show drawings, models, devices, texts, animations and installations. The show is in the Slade Gallery on Gower St, London WC1.

In an unprecedented win for libertarians, urbanists and civic-minded people everywhere, CCTV was successfully banned from a major public space on London’s Southbank.  The area around London Eye and County Hall is one of the capital’s major tourist attractions and a potential target of terrorist attacks and minor public nuisance. However in what will be seen as a bold move that is inconsistent with policing strategies in other major public spaces, a CCTV camera last weekend was asked to dismount its surveillance equipment and to proceed quietly onto another destination. Security officials were unavailable for comment.

In the interests of public safety, TTT was able to secretly film the CCTV camera without its consent and monitor its subsequent actions to verify that security officials’ instructions had been followed.

Everyone knows Golden Lane from the Smithsons, right? We’re talking streets in the sky and those great collages of convivial couples on elevated walkways. Well, it joins the ranks of architecture’s Most Famous Second-Place-Getters eclipsing the actual built scheme. It’s a pity that hardly anyone knows much about the architects who came first - Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, who are otherwise known for the ground- and rule-breaking Barbican development next door. Even fewer would care to realize that the Barbican’s high walkways represent a successful (!) and built (!) example of those streets in the sky. Maybe, those kinds of concepts are best remembered in the imaginary and speculative world of architectural competitions than actual physical realities. Plus, the Smithsons (three noteworthy leaking buildings and a crapload of dogma) are untouchable, aren’t they…? (more…)