Anarchitecture

We are ready to begin to provide for ourselves, without capital. We
have begun. We are also ready to fight and destroy in order to
protect, defend, grow what we are building; you see it. So what do we
need for this project? What tools? What knowledge? What strength? And in what parts of life will this begin? I'll speak about what I see as
the theoretical (practical) necessity for building towards our own
survival without capital (and how what we build in this way we will be
ready to defend with our bodies and lives) and also of the concrete
practices that are the beginning. Mostly I want to start the
discussion in order to learn more.

Francesca Manning lives in BedStuy, Brooklyn. She's (along with the
most best peoples ever) currently investing big parts of her heart
into 123 Community Space, an anarchist space in the neighborhood, and also into the potential of beginning a Brooklyn Community Land trust.

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Inspired by the many artists, architects and designers have taken up
the 'work' of Anarchitecture, initiated by the Anarchitecture group
and Gordon Matta-Clark in the early 1970s, my research examines the
emergence of this concept with respect to prior theoretical investigations by Georges Bataille and Walter Benjamin, the social and
political contestation of property and design, as well as its
relevance for contemporary activist and interventionist practices.

Etienne/Stephen Turpin studies and teaches in Toronto. His present
research is focused on connections among architecture, pedagogy and
philosophy.

Respondents:

Shiri Pasternak is a writer and researcher based in Toronto. She is
the co-founder of the affordable housing advocacy group Abandonment
Issues, and an active member of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake
Solidarity Collective.

Alexis Bhagat is the co-editor (with Gregory Gangemi) of Sound
Generation (Autonomedia 2008) and an avid letter writer.