English physician and polymath Robert Fludd (1574-1637) had interests spanning from scientific knowledge to occult disciplines. His approach to … [Read more...]
A Visual Thinking Strategy: Oswald Mathias Ungers, Morphologie: City Metaphors (1982)
German architect Oswald Mathias Ungers (1926–2007) accompanied his life-long architectural and theoretical production with a parallel work on found … [Read more...]
Symbolic Truth: Geometric Portraits by Indigenous Populations from Brazil.
Founded by Lina Bo and her husband Pietro Maria Bardi in 1950, the Brazilian magazine Habitat ("The magazine of the arts in Brazil") manifested a … [Read more...]
Mapping Fictional Realms: “Terram in Aspectu” by Liliana Farber (2019)
New Media artist Liliana Farber investigates the ways in which the virtual redefines the physical world. Using custom-made software and collected … [Read more...]
Mary Ellen Solt, Moonshot Sonnet (1964)
The Moonshot Sonnet is a concrete poem composed in 1964 by poet Mary Ellen Solt (1920-2007). The work is a poem created reformatting diagrammatic … [Read more...]
Two Exhibitions at Iris Clert Gallery, Paris: Yves Klein’s Le Vide (The Void, 1958) and Arman’s Le Plein (The Full-Up, 1960)
Recently my work with color has led me, in spite of myself, to search little by little, with some assistance (from the observer, from the translator), … [Read more...]
Inner Space (The Book)
We present Inner Space, an essay we have written in connection to the curatorship of the homonymous exhibition at the 2019 Lisbon … [Read more...]
The Underlying Structure of Letters: Luca Pacioli’s Alphabet from De Divina Proportione (1509)
Franciscan friar and mathematician Luca Pacioli wrote several books on mathematics and geometry. Among them, in 1497, Pacioli conceived De Divina … [Read more...]
Rabanus Maurus, De laudibus sanctae crucis, (810-814)
Rabanus Maurus was a Benedictine monk, archbishop of Mainz, writer and poet who lived between c.780 and 856. A very sophisticated intellectual, he was … [Read more...]
The Shape of Knowledge: The Mundaneum by Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine
Mankind is at a turning point in its history. The mass of data acquired is astounding. We need new instruments to simplify it, to condense it, or … [Read more...]
The Charterhouse of Padua, a Forgotten Place, (Marco Lumini and Alberto Michielotto)
We usually don’t accept text contributions for SOCKS, but we made an exception for this article on the Charterhouse in Padua, Italy featuring original … [Read more...]
Spatializing Knowledge: Giulio Camillo’s Theatre of Memory (1519-1544)
Giulio Camillo Delminio (1480-1544) was an Italian Renaissance polymath. His most famous project, started in ca.1519 and carried on until his death, … [Read more...]
John Mehegan, Jazz Improvisation (1959-65)
Jazz Improvisation is a series of 4 books edited by pianist, composer, lecturer, and critic John Mehegan between 1959 and 1965. Today considered … [Read more...]
The Architecture of Cooking. Illustrations from: Urbain Dubois, La Cuisine Artistique, 1872
Urbain Dubois (1818-1901) was a French chef, an innovator of the art of the cuisine and a prolific author. During his life, he authored a series of … [Read more...]
The Museum Inside The Telephone Network (1991)
“The Museum Inside The Telephone Network” was a 1991 exhibition that was not based upon any physical space. The show was only accessible to home … [Read more...]
David Katz’s Psychological Atlas (1948)
David Katz's Psychological Atlas (1948), is a collection of drawings, photographs, diagrams, and charts used by the author, a renowned psychologist … [Read more...]
Peter Eisenman, Notes on Conceptual Architecture. Towards a Definition. (1970)
The issue 78/79 of Design Quarterly (journal published in 1970 by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis) was completely dedicated to possible … [Read more...]
Ben Shahn, Untitled Drawing Series, (1948)
During the twentieth century’s Great Migration, the Hickmans were one among many African Americans families looking for affordable housing in Chicago. … [Read more...]
A Portrait of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s Kosmos (1845-62)
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was a German geographer, explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively to Latin America and put the basis for a … [Read more...]
Estates of Tomorrow, by Catherine O’Donnell (2013)
Catherine O'Donnell is an Australian visual artist whose practice "is about the beauty of the uncelebrated and ordinary", looking for the intrinsic … [Read more...]
Surviving the Fall. Late 19th to early 20th Century Ligurian Ex-Votos
These ex-votos ("Per Grazia Ricevuta" or PGR, in Italian) are popular expressions of religious gratitude and public testimony of faith, from the … [Read more...]
National Collegiate Football Hall of Fame in New Brunswick, NJ, by Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc. (1967)
The (unbuilt) competition project for the National Collegiate Football Hall of Fame in New Brunswick, NJ, was a sort of religious building, or rather … [Read more...]
Boats of the Pearl River (1800-1820)
This series of paintings dates back to 1800-1820 and depicts a series of different types of boats that use to cross the Pearl River in Guangzhou, … [Read more...]
Herman Volz’s Depictions of San Francisco’s Industrialization (1930’s-1940’s)
Herman Roderick Volz (1904–1990) was a Swiss-American painter, muralist, lithographer, set designer, decorative artist and ceramist. As an advocate … [Read more...]
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