JAMES WALSH is moved by an exhibition of graphic art that relates horrors that would be much less immediate in other media
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Who gets to imagine the future?
HENRY BELL is provoked by a book that looks toward, but does not fully explore the question of who gets to imagine the shapes of cities to come
Centro Financiero Confinanzas (Torre David/David Tower) draped with banners saying 'Chávez Lives' in October 2014 / Pic: Hernan Zamora/flickr/CC
RON JACOBS welcomes the translation into English of an angry cry from the place they call the periphery
GUILLERMO THOMAS recommends a useful book aimed at informing activists with local examples of solidarity in action around the world
MATTHEW HAWKINS surveys the upcoming programme of contemporary dance in Glasgow, and picks some highlights
‘Chance encounters are what keep us going,’ says novelist Haruki Murakami. In Amy, a chance encounter gives fresh perspective to memories of angst, hedonism and a charismatic teenage rebel.
Future Cities: Architecture and the Imagination
Paul Dobraszczyk, Reaktion, £18
ALASDAIR GRAY wrote in his classic novel Lanark – itself a multidecade exploration of the city as a symbol:
“Glasgow is a magnificent city … Why do we hardly ever notice that? … Because nobody imagines living here … think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he’s already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But if a city hasn’t been used by an artist not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively.”
In his book Future Cities Paul Dobraszczyk lives imaginatively in the cities of the future, and in the future cities of the past. By exploring what artists, novelists, town-planners and film-makers have projected onto the future of the city, Dobraszczyk undertakes a cultural enquiry into where the city is going next.
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