maat New VI Related readings
Suggested by Barbara says… design studio
Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future
William Olaf Stapledon — Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1930.
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Published at a time when this literary genre was taking its first steps, this novel tells the story of an outer space civilisation that travels in time to warn us about the evolution of humanity in a narrative covering 2 billion years. It is a premonitory work that is structured in a progressive timeline in which pandemics, geomagnetic storms, megastructures and even the civil aviation crisis are anticipated. Whilst it is also demoralising, this novel always aims at an idea of cyclical and hopeful regeneration.
Harmonograph: A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music
Anthony Ashton — Wooden Books, Wales, 2003.
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This little book full of infographics provides a general understanding of the mathematics of curved vibrations, sine waves, and the key notions on the properties of what we know as harmony. Essential reading if one wants to understand what a harmonograph, harmonogram, Lissajous curves and other phenomena are.
“Nasa and the Search for Technosignatures: A Report from the NASA Workshop”
Dawn Gelino and Jason Wright (eds.), VV.AA., November 28, 2018.
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Credit: Big Ear Radio Observatory and North American AstroPhysical Observatory (NAAPO).
The records of a workshop that took place in September 2018 on detecting and identifying technosignatures and strategies for the development of that scientific field; a little “hard science” for sceptics and enthusiasts.
Ubu roi
Alfred Jarry — 1986
A stage play that makes great use of poetic parody and grotesque symbolism. A short description cannot do justice to what this work represents, as for a “designer of words”, Ubu Roi is the point of departure and arrival for “Pataphysics”, the science of imaginary solutions.
Other references:
T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone: Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism
Hakim Bey — Autonomedia, New York, 1991.
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, 1994
bell hooks — Routledge, New York / London, 1994.
Sad by Design: On Platform Nihilism
Geert Lovink — Pluto Press, London, 2019.
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Barbara says... is a graphic design studio based in Lisbon founded by António Silveira Gomes and Cláudia Castelo. It was responsible for creating maat’s new visual identity. |
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“Véritable portrait de monsieur Ubu”, pen drawing by Alfred Jarry published in Claude Terrasse, Ubu roi, texte et musique. Fac-similé autographique, Paris, Mercure de France, 1897, p. 7.
