Geometries of knowledge: urban interventions and creative criticality

Abstract

At a time when notions of emergence impact how cities are mapped and modelled, it is also pertinent to reimagine how knowledge is produced and communicated. This paper presents geometries of knowledge as a theoretical construct and a generative methodology for emergent knowledge making in an interdisciplinary and spatial context. Geometries of knowledge envision a relational meshwork for coming to know emergently through with and between different forms of knowledge. It provides an accessible framework for identifying where and when knowledge maybe reductive or reciprocal in the process of coming to know.

My practice-led research materialises emergent geometries as architectonic woven sculpture; making a direct intervention in the cityscape to creatively critique the reductive knowledge systems on which urban geographies are premised. Two case studies demonstrate how geometries of knowledge are tested, reevaluated and furthered in practice. Firstly, Little Systems, a site-responsive temporary installation at Cox Architecture’s Canberra office in 2018 and secondly, Given Conditions an ambitious public work that scaled the exterior of a three-storey building in Civic Square as part of Design Canberra 2022. Because these artworks embody a novel self-organising methodology and actively emplace coming to know emergently in a particular space and time, they contribute as useful spatial and epistemological provocations for how cities could be emergently mapped and modelled. Show more