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TO INTERPRET AND / OR TO IMAGINE (TO CREATE)

«We do not only speak literally, but we perceive literally and live literally …» (Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, ART Publishing House, 2013, p. 265) and, of course, we literally interpret architecture and town planning.

Perhaps this was the reason for the present issue of the review to include storytellers, dreamers and inventors in a theoretical debate, as formulas to approach and understand the possible worlds of yesterday, and as techniques of imagination, anticipation, and intuition of the probable worlds of tomorrow, as well. Therefore, feel free to interpret or imagine architecture (and town planning) as a narration and / or a story, with one of the great storytellers, dreamers or inventors from yesterday, today and perhaps tomorrow, as a pretext.

Narration-architecture is submitted to a mystery, a secret, describing its shape, yet without power or even will to reveal it or expose it. Story-architecture fore-sees discretion: on one hand, it rather conceals, covers and masks and, on the other hand, it confers the aura of an encryption or codification of the enigma or the wonder itself (reminding me of Blaga’s verse: «I Will not Crush the World’s Corolla of Wonders.»)

Story-architecture, on the other hand, is subject of disclosure, discovering, revelations or fictions, fantasies, illusions, visions, just like their own shape it decodes and figures out, finds out, settles and brings to life in the open. Story-architecture lies under the sign of a super-submission, that could only be a fantasy, a deception, a chimera or, moreover, a fiction, a utopia, an illusion.

Narration-architecture describes / interprets the space of states and / or situations that «emphasize different body and spirit poises», whilst story-architecture establishes / creates a space that generates places which «reveal attitudes and gestures». Therefore, just like Deleuze and Guattari used to write, «the stories’ author and storytellers’ presences are two completely different things …», and the narration-architecture and story-architecture both are «two manners of permanently dividing the living present».

 Allowing me the illusion of your being incited with my whimsical theory, I dare you to come along in this story / narration we shall reveal within the first issue of Arhitext in 2017.

Arpad

Jonah Sachs «Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell – and Live – the Best Stories Will Rule the Future», Black Button Books, Bucharest 2016, Romanian version

We live in a world that has lost its connection to traditional myths, and we are now trying to find new ones – we’re people, and that’s what people without myths do. These myths will shape our future, how we live, what we do, and what we buy. They will touch all of us. But not all of us get to write them. Those who do have tremendous power. And where there is power, there is struggle for it. That’s why, just below the surface, just beyond what the uninitiated can see, there are wars going on. The soldiers are Tea Party demonstrators and champions of «the 99 percent», climate change activists, makers of computers and sneaker brands. They seem to be fighting over ideas and dollars but they are really fighting for control of our stories. The best of them, those who know this and can convince us that their story is true, are blowing everyone else to smithereens.

These are the story wars and this is your invitation to be part of them. Understanding the story wars can make a more effective communicator and a savvier media consumer. But that’s not the only reason I want to enlist you. I want you to be part of the story wars because the world is badly in need of solutions in so many spheres-economic, social and environmental, to name just a few. The ability to dream up and spread these solutions lives or dies on the ability to tell great stories that inspire people to think differently. Nothing is more urgent than that right now.

«… the 3 commandments formulated in 1895 by the first great marketing storyteller, John Powers: Tell the truth, Be interesting and Live the truth

«stories have always been a force, not only to shape society, but the individual life as well.»

«Stories master the intricate alluviums of the oral tradition and the very good stories, that are also well said, will master the on developing media market.»

«In the end, the great stories and the great conflicts have always been inseparable … without the story, there is no conflict.»

Stories «build communities around a common purpose and confer people a strong sense of belonging… Powerful stories have determined millions of women and men to take action, tragic and heroic actions, that cost them their lives and reshaped the world fundamentally.

The winners’ stories still define our reality.»

«… turning to peer-to-peer marketing and social media is imminent and unstoppable.»

«… the oral tradition that has dominated the human experience forever, except the last 100 years, is coming back for revenge. In this case, the natural selection makes the rule.»

«… we could call the Digitoral Era what is coming next.»

«… iconic stories create iconic expectations.»

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