Nomadic borders by briallen roberts

02.

Theory as a form of Design Nomadicism + Geopolitical Borders Cambridge, Ontario - Canada Master of Architecture, Final Design Studio

Theory = Design = Theory | An Investigation Into An Urban Condition Design Research is a phrase relatively new to the discipline of architecture that, to quote Etienne Turpin, â&#x20AC;&#x153;suggests the productive possibility of design as a method of inquiry; that is to say, theory might unfold and flourish through the careful consideration of the processes and practices of design, and, simultaneously, processes and practices of design could be amplified and emboldened through the precise articulation of theoretical commitments.â&#x20AC;? This research seminar asserts that theory is a form of design, and complimentarily, design is a form of theory; practice is praxis. As theory is thought through design, an opening is created for a thesis to be articulated convincingly through visual and oral means. The work has been sited in the present moment and uses history and theory as means of articulating the design of the present condition.

// Image of Thesis Booklet | Nomadicism + Borders

// Part 00 | Master Thesis Dissertation

03.

Part 00 | Master Thesis Dissertation 2012 | Nomadology and Nomadicism + Irregular Migration and Borderlands

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

// Nomadology | Irregular Migration + B/orderlands

04.

Contemporary thought proclaims that a border is defined as a demarcation or line that pre-holds geographical constraints and creates spaces or enclosures of “otherness” 1. It is important to rethink the theoretical status of the border and its preoccupations of possession and utilize the way borders create third spaces of human flow and migration. The border goes beyond the notion of a threshold or instrument of demarcation. Instead, it is now a crucial zone in which political, social and cultural formulations negotiate with each other.

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part 00 | Master Thesis Dissertation

The

Australasian Archipelago is seen as the threshold between the materialization of illegal migration flows and heterotopian environments that have been established in order to protect the utopian like manifestations or depiction of western States and their territorial sovereignty. The concept and process of bordering can be understood as an event of, ‘becoming’ as it opposes all structures of organization and produces an escape from institutionalization. The deterritorialization that is produced brings forth socio-spatial complexities, which oppose the division of States. The Material effect of the border between Australia and Indonesia occurs through the oceanic divide, defined by the proximal coastlines of these Nation States. As a result, the border becomes multi layered and varies in spatial depths while land bordering becomes redundant. Instead, the coastline and the geopolitical constraints of the oceanic dictate the concept of bordering. The oceanic border becomes an apparatus for articulating various lines of difference and subjectivity between the bordering states and territories and those who seek asylum within these waters. New forms of spatial thinking are derived from this apparatus, where by third space of occupancy is deterritorialized through institutionalization creating a multitude of new, autonomous spaces – a transversal territorial of re-appropriation3. Henceforth, this proposal seeks to question the way movement across borders within the Oceanic can be achieved in a zone of multiple spaces, layers and territories. Movement and collaboration are reviewed with respect to the interpretation of contemporary Nomadicism and Nomadology and how they can aid in the displacement of those who irregularly migrate within this region of the world. Spatial Nomadicism between territories will be examined through a collective and shared experience of ‘making spaces’. The thesis offers a subversive strategy to the issues surrounding the irregular migration of individuals. Challenging the Australian government’s ‘solution’ to its migration ‘problem’ loosening the Pacific Stronghold negotiates the northern buffer of Australia through a series of spaces that provide relief through shelter, protection, hygiene and other provisions for those seeking to reach the mainland. Landscape architects and architects have a valuable contribution to make to the status of geopolitical boundaries. Borders are an integral part of the process of global making4. So why not design for them? If there are frontier conflicts all around the world, why is it that geopolitical points such as US-Mexico and IsraelPalestine incite so many speculative proposals and the Australasian boundary incite little response? Is it because of the lack of articulation of its physical location and what is occurring along it? In failing to represent them in a legible way do we remove the ability for people to engage with them5? Due to the political, social and economic upheavals that lead to a divide between States and territories, the sovereign power of ownership dictates and establishes unhealthy and unsafe environments. Lack of government or corporate responsibility and acknowledgement of the affects of warfare and environmental catastrophes lead to the polarised outcomes for those who are a part of the affective collective. Opportunities for positive change are wasted and shifts between territories promulgate undesired outcomes. Seen through the case studies of the US and Mexico Border and the Palestine / Israeli borders - the concept of the bordering governs the people within these territories.

Due to the political, social and economic upheavals that lead to a divide between States and territories, the sovereign power of ownership dictates and establishes unhealthy and unsafe environments. Lack of government or corporate responsibility and acknowledgement of the affects of warfare and environmental catastrophes lead to the polarised outcomes for those who are a part of the affective collective. Opportunities for positive change are wasted and shifts between territories promulgate undesired outcomes. Seen through the case studies of the US and Mexico Border and the Palestine / Israeli borders - the concept of the bordering governs the people within these territories. Like any sovereign conflict, the collective who attempt to flee this restriction and territorial divide are jousted into unknown occurrences and unplanned movements - the itinerary, “to flee” or to migrate becomes irregular6. Rather than tracing the official or legalized concepts and procedures of migration they begin to reshape the corridors between territories, mapping and creating routes of irregular migration. In the Oceanic these become the routes of illegal, unsafe, dangerous and military controlled sea travels layered over a map of the main routes that connect States and territories within this region. Most of the time migrants are trapped in these routes, pending their admission or deportation. Today the Indian and Pacific Oceans have become a place of confinement. A modified contemporary map is necessary in order for those who wonder and seek migration to negotiate the Oceanic terrain. Individuals on a journey through unfamiliar landscapes have stories of great suffering and conflict. There comes a point for them where it is no longer possible to live in their fragmented and politically unstable homelands and thus become stateless as they move through the worlds irregular migration paths. New reference points are needed. This proposed map should be adapted to identify new points of shelter and refuge located on islands, submerged in international waters, at the crossroads between political borders or junctions between flowing estuaries. These spaces will be places of reception, knowledge and cooperation and provide a safe landing for those who require it7. These third spaces of occupancy will not filtrate aspects of heterotopian facilities – rather will become a beacon of culture, education and safety as they wait for their own utopian ideal of a better life in a new, desired territory – in this case Australia. In terms of the Australian government’s response to irregular migration, the representation of Asylum Seekers is portrayed through a variety of texts and images that suggests the existence of a correlation between representation and power8. Asylum Seekers are represented as the “other” through the propagation of the ‘ineradicable distinction between Western superiority and Oriental inferiority’9. The relevance of this is associated with the Oriental origins of the majority of asylum seekers in Australia and the corresponding historically constituted fear of these people entrenched in the Australian psyche. In Foucauldian terms, asylum seekers are primarily the objects of speech10. This is a position that has led to their status as one of the most disenfranchised minorities in contemporary Australian society. The taboo on their speech has been enforced by a grid of procedures that have served to not only silence their voices, but remove the opportunity for their voices to be articulated to anyone outside the razor wire fences that imprison them in detention centres. The ‘tyranny of distance’11 long romanticized in Australian literature has been utilized by the nation’s politicians to enforce a prohibition on the speech of asylum seekers.

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

>>>

// Nomadology | Irregular Migration + B/orderlands By placing the detention centres on the geographical fringes of the country, the voices of those illegal migrants currently held in detention are isolated, cut off from Australia’s major population centres. Australian detention centres thus provide a stark geographical signifier of successive governments’ determination to place the voices of those who seek Asylum in Australian territories on the fringes of the society12.

>>>

The term, “Nation” can be suggestive of an imagined community where by people perceive themselves as part of a collective through shared symbols and images, which the media plays a major role in constructing and propagating13. Explored through the idea that, “imagine” is to be understood as, “to perceive” the members of these imagined communities will naturally never know each other but will share similar interests and identities that are possible as part of the same nation14. The media strengthens this concept by targeting a mass audience or generalizing and addressing the collective as citizens of the public. This perception of space is reiterated and reinforced through certain images, texts and discourses. This concept becomes limited where by some nations have, “finite, if elastic boundaries, beyond which lie other nations”15. Coinciding with this idea is Edward Said’ theory on Imagined geographies and how this concept enhances the problems associated with how popular discourses construct particular views of other States and territories and those that occupy them. In respect to the theories ethos, “All landscapes are seen as being imagines – there is no ‘real’ geography to which the imagined ones can be compared,”16 there evolves the idea that geopolitical knowledge is a form of imagined geography through the way it is argued that western culture has produced a view of the ‘Orient’ based on particular perceptions, popularized through academic oriental studies, travel writings and colonial view. As a result, those who occupy the “other” collective appear through media interventions to come from feminized, open, virgin states and territories, with no ability or concept of organized rule of government17. These two concepts play an integral role in the representation of those who seek asylum. Lost within the media reports and news columns, is the humanitarian empathy for those who perish or face life altering circumstances’ in their attempt to reach the, “promised land” of Australia. Breaking down these barriers and restrictions within the context of national identity is at the forefront of understanding the neo liberal view of hybridization - the concept for going transnational rights. Internalized trauma is reinforced through the heterotopian environments established by the dominant state or territory. The collective soul19 - the stories and memories of the suffering upheld by the political and social upheavals of the cities in which these people have fled, overshadows the human rational of dealing with these people as they transfer from a nation into the realm of otherness in a stateless environment of a refugee camp or detention centre. As a result an environment is constructed from this stronghold between those who seek asylum and the nationalistic values of the dominant state. A multitude of problems arise from irregular migration. While the political and social problems associated with this act is at the forefront of our perception of asylum seekers, it is the problems associated with B/ order waiting which resonates with this thesis. The action of waiting – or to be at a standstill places a fixation on a place (in this case – the desired territory or state – that being Australia) subjecting those who seek asylum to the passing of time20. Through the process of detention those within the system partake

in no other activity or collective process other than that of waiting21. The heterotopian environment constructed through the detention centre reiterates that those who border into unknown geopolitical territories are part of the collective process of waiting. Possible design tactics could emulate this situation in an opposing manner – establishing systems that create a continuation of processes and activities. To wait outside the border – can extend into long lengths of time – creating a network of statelessness undesired by the lack of hybridization and foregoing with transnational bordering around the world. The border therefore represents an abstract material and virtual interface22, made up of multiple demarcations or oceanic waters where by the excised islands of the Australian territory forbid and exclude people from reaching points of safety and rights for global citizenship under the Australian Pacific Solution. The internal perspective of the Asylum Seeker is overshadowed by the reality of the external situation. By capturing the chaos and uncertainty of their internal reality – dream like perspective and inability to communicate due to the struggles of cultural differences can begin to be understood and worked on within the larger community23. The act of Bordering is a process of internalization and subjectification through the internal struggle of those who seek Asylum. Objectification and exclusion from an outside perspective are reiterated in their portrayal of the, “Other”24. There is the idea that, “to Border make” is to construct the concept of, “be-longing into an Order, an In-group in an In-Land, and In-side; and the making of Others, is the making of a be-Longing to an Out-Group in an Out-Land, the Out-side25. / / “The more one internalizes this given b/order – the more one locks oneself in. In addition to this, - those who are kept outside the border, are locked out. Waiting before the Law and waiting outside the Law go hand in hand.” In contemporary society, the idea of waiting outside the border now takes the form of asylum seeking and detention centres26. For those who seek asylum there is first a, “productive schizoid desire” of transcending boundaries regardless of the political and cultural policies surrounding global migration. From this, a desperate longing for somewhere else is experienced27. For those who anticipate asylum can experience a clout towards “sehnsucht” characteristics – yearning for a far, familiar, non-earthly land that one can identify as one’s home28. Thus the right to be granted settlement, safety and protection dominate their act of bordering. Personal freedom is at the forefront of this struggle and is desired through the fear of the unknown and unplanned or the indirect routes of irregular migration. The act of bordering embodies a desire of emptiness for those who partake and place themselves within The Borderlands are established through this process and signify the hybridization and transnational occupancy of this space36. Utilizing the Indonesian archipelago, possible design tactics could aim at opposing the Australian governments creation of heterotopic environments out of Christmas Island, Nauru and Manus Island. The detention centres on these islands were essentially established to prohibit and prolong those who seek asylum from re-entering Australian territory. They are spaces of restriction and border waiting.

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part 00 | Master Thesis Dissertation I put forth the question / / Can we not re-invent this space? The concept of detention, of holding and imprisoning those who seek – in the eyes of the state the wrong way of going about global migration. Can we not consider this as protecting, security, and justice for those escaping horrendous social and political circumstances of those trapped before the law and wait outside it as the, “other”? The ‘Pacific Solution’, implemented as a result of the Australian governments panic following the Tampa incident and the (Children Overboard) SIEV X tragedy of 2001 caused the removal of approximately 4,600 islands off Australia’s northern periphery from the Australian migration zone. This downturn, or shift of geographic boundaries, converted northern Australia into a buffer. Stemming from a desire to externalise, and distance the issue, and to implicate other nations in the region, such as Indonesia, to take responsibility for patrolling, and detaining in exchange for economic aid. A larger and more frequent patrolling of the waters and a thickening of the border to a territory, as opposed to a line, have further complicated the entry of intended migrants to Australia. In October of 2012, The Australian Expert Panel of Asylum Seeking proclaimed that excising Australia’s coastline in addition to the 4,600 islands of its northern periphery from Australian territory, “complimented”4 the re-opening of the Detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island. It is explained that excising the Australian coastline from Australian territory was done so to, “deter boat people from making the long journey by sea in the hope of winning greater rights than those who arrive at excised offshore territories like Christmas Island”41. The Government states, “It is about discouraging people from getting on boats but it is clear that the only way to achieve this is by offering people safer pathways … not by removing people’s fundamental right to apply for Asylum in Australia”42. Henceforth, the thesis proposes to utilize the design tactics within the excision zone between Australia and Papua New Guinea – deploying them within the Torres Strait – allowing movement to occur in a safe threshold of the Australian Northern Periphery. It is my intention to act from the perspective of a subversive architect via the utilization of architectural design to appropriate the certain political constraints and to help manifest Borderlands that do not operate at the level of a detention centre. There is merit here to see architecture as political art – as a space of urban negotiation within the threshold between borders bringing forth a new form of spatiality – that is the third space of occupancy. New balances of power and new dialogs can be established between territories through the medium of design tactics and thus challenging the ethos of State and territorial borders43. the collective of the other – a desire reinforced through the representation of the Nomadic figure29. Thus, the event of bordering links to the perception of Machinic phylum – reinforcing the third space of human flow and migration and is explored through the idea of ‘Holey Space’30. It is an ‘under-ground spatial paradigm’ connected to the smooth Nomadic space and the striated – that being the political and social space of the territory31. Similar to the subsoil space that bypasses both the ground of the nomadic smooth space and the land of the sedentary striated space, It is conceived by the surface dweller as holey –through its association with the deterritorialization of these opposing spatial paradigms – creating a multitude of possible new connections and formations connected with the earth32. This preludes to the awareness that, “deterritorialization and the heterogenesis it produces are processes that bring forth socio-spatial complexity

that [are] disguised by the functional and categorical divisions of institutionalization. In this use of the concept, then, deterritorialization facilitates new, inventive forms of bordering”33. Possible design tactics could be employed in order to create a multitude of spaces sought after through redirected journeys in order to establish new residencies for those caught between the threshold of Australia’s territory and excercision zone. The desired outcome of this is for a new geography to be established by the lines of flight established by those who seek Asylum34. The space in which these design tactics arise is a borderless space of a multitude of belongings – reaffirming the autonomy and transversal territorial reappropriation35. Taking on the idea that the space within the lines that segregate territories on a map as ‘free space’, an examination of the how single borderlines on a map can become territories for spatial design tactics. The organizational principles of the boundaries that divide the space are interrupted through these tactics – signaling a connection between other people who occupy the same territory. While borders are shown prominently fixed on a world map, in reality these borders a far less defined and allows such proposed engagement to take place. In reality borders are constantly shifting and their movement facilitates prosperous sites for creativity and design interventions. Thus, the Machinic phylum is deterritorialized through spaces of Borderlands constituted by the bordering activity of becoming36. So forth, the Borderlands can appear, disappear and flow within this third space of human occupancy. The design tactics should parade within the transcendental environment through new ways of becoming for those who seek asylum through the way they act outside the State or territorial sovereignty. These are intended to become new strategies for making connections and ensuring the safety of those who a trapped between the push and pull factors of border waiting. 01. Buoy System The first design tactic could revolve around the concept of a buoy deployment strategy off the Northern Periphery of Australia. The buoys would be equipped with flares, small emergency medical provisions and satellite navigation systems, trackers and radio connections. It is with the hope that these buoys would aid the boats into safe waters of the Torres Strait allowing those who seek asylum to be carried into the excised region of the northern periphery. While they will not be formally considered in Australian territory under the Regional Cooperation Framework they can reside with this third space of occupancy until official paper work has been achieved. 02. Water purification on Islands The second design tactic could be integrated within the sustainable management of water resources on small islands within the Torres Strait. Regardless of the asylum seeking issue – water management within this region is vital for the health and social well-being, the protection of the environments and the development of the economies. Groundwater occurs on small islands as either perched (high level) or basal (low level) aquifers. Basal aquifers consist of confined freshwater bodies, which form at or below sea level. On these small coral and limestone islands of the Torres Strait, the basal aquifer takes the form of a ‘freshwater lens’ (or ‘groundwater lens’), which underlies the islands.

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

>>>

// Nomadology | Irregular Migration + B/orderlands These lenses of fresh groundwater accumulate from rainfall percolating through the soil zone and reside in fragile hydrodynamic equilibrium with the underlying saltwater. The Torres Strait is comprised of uplifted limestone island that are surrounded by a fringing coral reefs and as such, the project aims to provide an additional step towards a sustainable water supply for these islands and a new and improved system for groundwater exploitation.

>>>

Footnotes // 1. Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. 1980. A Thousand Plateaus. Trans. Brian Massumi. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. Vol. 2 of Capitalism and Schizophrenia. 2 vols. 1972-1980. Trans. of Mille Plateaux. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. 2. Keith Woodward and John Paul Jones III, On the Border with Deleuze and Guattari, Chapter 15 pp. 235 – 247 geography.arizona. edu/, assessed 2012.09.29. 3. Woodward, Keith and John Paul Jones III, On the Border with Deleuze and Guattari, Chapter 15 pp. 235 – 247 geography.arizona. edu/, assessed 2012.09.29. 4. Prescott, Michaela Frances, Loosening the Pacific Stronghold: Subverting and exposing Australia’s geopolitical northern boundary (0000801705) Think Space Competition, September 2011 5. ibid., 03. Shelter / outposts 6. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting Before the Law: Kafka The third design tactic could be deterritorialized on the Border. 7. “Territorial Agency” http://pr2012.aaschool.ac.uk/units/DIP-04, through a series of Third Spaces – The creation of assessed 2012.11.09 outposts within the Torres Strait through the natural 8. Cartner, John. M. (2009). Representing the refugee: Rhetoric, curve of the Indonesian Archipelago. They are spaces discourse and the public agenda (Master’s thesis). University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA. for free use – they are not designed for a specific 9. Foucault, Michel ‘The Order of Discourse’, P. Rice & P. Waugh tenants or type of occupation, the time frame is up (eds.), Modern Literary Theory: A Reader (Fourth Edition), Arnold, to the person or persons who inhabit them. These London, 2001, p.210. 10. Blainey, Geoffrey. The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance spaces are the ‘other’ way of understanding and Shaped Australia’s History, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1966. potential apparatuses towards the change in human 11. Ibid., Representing the refugee: Rhetoric, discourse and the spatiality. They embody a critical spatial awareness public agenda 12. “Nation” http://sparementalobjects.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/theto the contrasting of the spatiality, politically and immobility-of-mobility/#comment-39, assessed 2012.11.26 sociality trialectic elements that dictate the border of 13. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the the oceanic territories. Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised Edition ed. London and New York: Verso, 1991, p.5 14. Cartner, John. M. (2009). Representing the refugee: Rhetoric, The objective of this proposal is to produce a series of discourse and the public agenda (Master’s thesis). University of Notre spaces that relate and identify with their surroundings Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA. 15. Said, Edward W. Imagined Geographies, The Georgia Review and to provide shelter for those who seek it. Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring 1977), pp. 162-206 Understanding of the places in which they will be 16. ibid., p.163 located in is paramount to create environments that 17. Scott A. Bollens, City and soul in divided society, Routledge, 2012. 18. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border stand up against the unstable geography and specific Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting localized effects that will contribute to its design. Before the Law: Kafka on the Border 1. 19. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting Before the Law: Kafka on the Border 20. Rob Shields, Boundary-Thinking in Theories of the Present (www. spaceandculture.org, 2005), 8. 21. Ibid., 22. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting Before the Law: Kafka on the Border 23. ibid., 24. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting Before the Law: Kafka on the Border 25. ibid. 2. 26. “Sehnsucht” http://dictionary.reverso.net/german-english/ Sehnsucht, assessed 2012.12.09 27. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting Before the Law: Kafka on the Border 28. De Landa, Manuel. War in the Age of Intelligent Machines, New York: Zone Books, 1991, page 71. 29. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A thousand Plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1987) English translation 30. Ethel Baraona Pohl & Cesar Reyes # GUEST WRITERS ESSAYS 06 /// Post-political Attitudes on Immigration, Utopias and the Space Between Us. http://thefunambulist.net, 2012.10.29 3. 31. Henk van Houtum, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Waiting Before the Law: Kafka on the Border 33. Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, Second Edition 2001. Print. Page. 397 34. Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, Second Edition 2001. Print. Page. 398 35. Woodward, Keith and John Paul Jones III, On the Border with Deleuze and Guattari, Chapter 15 pp. 235 – 247 geography.arizona. edu/, assessed 2012.09.29 36. ibid., 37. Prescott, Michaela Frances, Loosening the Pacific Stronghold: Subverting and exposing Australia’s geopolitical northern boundary 4. (0000801705) Think Space Competition, September 2011, assessed 2012.10.29 38. Expert Panel of Asylum Seekers. Australian Government Report 2012 39. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-30/legislation-shiftsgoalposts-on-offshore-processing/4341310. Online article by chief political correspondent Simon Cullen for the ABC television Network (Australia) published 30.10.2012, assessed 2012.12.09 40. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/ mainland-not-australia-for-migrants-under-new-migration-zoneexcision-program/story-fn9hm1gu-1226506422850 Online article by Ben Packham for, The Australian Newspaper, published 30.10.2012, assessed 2012.12.07 41. Bryan Finoki [the editor of Subtopia] in an interview with Leopold Lambert in March 2010 - Kafka’s 42. ibid,. 1. www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/02/07/3425045.htm 1. Curtin Detention Centre, Australia 2. www.immi.gov.au/managing-australias-borders/.../christmas-island/ 2. Christmas Island Detention Centre, Australian Territory 3. www.smh.com.au 3. Curtin Detention Centre, Australia 4. www.theage.com.au 4. Christmas Island Detention Centre, Australian Territory

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part One | A Multivalent 3D Drawing

Part One | The Design of a Multivalent 3D Drawing | The Moleskine notebook and the course of contemporary Nomadicism 0.1 Visual Text | The Songlines of Chatwin: The brand Moleskine we know today was established in 1997 after an Italian teacher from Rome, Maria Sebregondi read Bruce Chatwin’s novel, ‘The Songlines’, almost a decade after the books publication. The novel documents Chatwin, an English novelist and travel writer’s adventure to Australia where he was curious to unearth the songs of Indigenous Australia and his affiliation with our nomadic past. Within the novel, he describes his discontent after discovering his beloved notebooks were no longer freely accessible and that, “to lose a passport [when travelling] was the least of one’s worries…to lose a notebook was a catastrophe”. The significance of this text as well as Chatwin’s own nomadic travels are paramount to the Moleskine franchises philosophy and global identity. On the Moleskine official webpage, it states: through extensive research, Sebregondi found herself at the Picasso museum in Paris, eyeing down the artist’s sketchbooks and later Ernest Hemmingway’s journals that both bore a resemblance to the notebook Chatwin described. This was the beginning for the brand’s slogan. Within the Moleskine’s accompanying leaflet, the creative individual can fantasize and imagine the extent in which their writings and sketches can affect or percolate a culture of sophisticated, contemporary nomadic individuals. Thus, Sebregondi is seen as a, “hero” allowing for her franchises brand child to be accessible to ever creative individual who seeks an unselfish partner in order to document, “culture, travel, memory, imagination and personal identity.” // MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

// Bruce Chatwin | The Origin of the Moleskine Notebook

>>>

THE MOLESKINE NOTEBOOK | VISUAL TEXTS

OCTOBER 2012

- SCOTT SORLI

BOOKLET 4.0

‘MULTIVALENT 3-D DRAWING : THAT TELLS ALL FROM THE 1:1 SCALE OF THE OBJECT TO THE SCALE OF THE EARTH’

The 3D, Paper Songlines [visual texts] reflect the Deleuzian concepts of territorialization and deterritorialization. In, ‘A Thousand Plateaus’, Deleuze and Guattari discuss the comparison of the board games; Chess and Go; an analogy of the state as opposed to the Nomad. In respect to my designs, the notion of fluidity and perpetual movement is prevalent. The movement is not from one point to another, rather it is the later, becoming continuous, without aim or destination, without departure or arrival.

The Moleskine Notebook | The Symbol of Contemporary Nomadism The Moleskine notebook is a symbol of contemporary nomadicism. It’s modern, sleek exterior encapsulates the essence of its owner; the educated, design savvy, creative individuals. Between the pages, the notebook exemplifies the ideologies of Chatwin and the dreaming of the archetypal nomads, in which his writings investigate. >>>

Lines of flight in this circumstance equal Songlines of the deterritorialization and reterritorialization through the layers of pages in a Notebook. Creating what appears like contours mutating the way we see the analogous, unadorned pages of a Moleskine. Here lies an interest in the power of the changing, growing shape. Through transformation, the shapes become entities in them selves, another geography. The connection between the actions on the page and the material is like the relationship between human beings and their restricted environment, a connection that is reflected in me, too.

They are multiple forms of belonging. They are mappings; different, nomadic configurations. They show altered ways in which a subject can have multiple belongings, similar to the idea that a nation state can have multiple ethnicities, nationalities and citizenships. As such, they are carriers of my ideas. They showcase territories, becoming malleable sites of passages, mappings. In respect to my research, the notebooks convey an abstraction of the Songlines of humanity. The wandering catalogues of those who wander.

>>> // Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

Bruce Chatwin documented his own travels and tales in his notebooks. They were eclectic: clippings, sketches, quotes, and stories. Written and placed in a Nomadic fashion.

// Part One | A Multivalent 3D Drawing

11.

Part One | The Design Of A Multivalent 3D Drawing | The Moleskine Notebook and the course of Contemporary Nomadicism A Multivalent 3D Drawing | Visual Text 0.1 Visual Text | The Songlines of Chatwin: His own journeys and tales were documented in his notebooks. They were eclectic: clippings, sketches, quotes, and stories. Written and placed in a Nomadic fashion. The Songline of contemporary Nomadism, shifting planes, geography, states of those individuals who embark on the journey of mapping the world. Like Chatwin, Picasso, Monet, the contemporary Nomad begins with the intent to search, discover and map. 0.2 Visual Text | The paper Songline Represents the Nomadic mapping of the earth. Those whose culture does not divide the land into territories, bound by partitions or boarders. Rather, the spirit of the land is as essential to one self as the spirit of the mind and soul. 0.3 | Visual Text Carry’s the idea of the, ‘Border.’ I wanted to investigate the relationship between the opposing sides of the border. In a collaborative motif, the Paper Songline represents the opposing social, political, economical, and geographical differences. All Visual texts were produced out of Fabriano card, 5mm Canada industrial plywood and manufactured via a Laser Cutter - facilities made available by the University of Waterloo. // MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

12. The first Visual Text portrays the Songlines of contemporary Nomadism. Like Chatwin, Picasso, Monet, the contemporary Nomad begins with the intent to search, discover and map the world

// Bruce Chatwin | The Songlines of Contemporary Nomadicism

// Briallen Roberts | â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Feralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

0.2 | The paper Songline Represents the Nomadic mapping of the earth. > Those whose culture does not divide the land into territories, bound by partitions or boarders. Rather, the spirit of the land is as essential to one self as the spirit of the mind and soul.

// Part One | A Multivalent 3D Drawing

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

13.

14. 0.3 | Carries the idea of the, ‘Border.’ I wanted to investigate the relationship between the opposing sides of the border. In a collaborative motif, the Paper Songline represents the opposing social, political, economical, and geographical differences.

// The ‘Border’ | The Relationship Between The Opposing Sides

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part One | A Multivalent 3D Drawing

15.

Part 2 | Historical Materialism: Agonistic Responses | A conflict between adversies who recognise common ground Part Two of the thesis dissertation was to formulate agonisitc responses in order to articulate a conflict between adversaries who I recognised I had common ground with. Labelled, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Historical Materialismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the agonistic responses were derived from a series of talks and discussions with alumni and professional architects.

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

Agonistic Response 3# | Dan D-aco, Interboro Partners Dan D’aco discussed his architecture firms emphasis on theory to bring about change in the city of New York. Through his creation of the graphic novel, “The US of them” D’aco discussed 40 commonly used, ‘weapons’ in the construct of the city that establish elements of Exclusion and Inclusion.

Agonistic Response 2# | Suzanne Harris-Brandt Overview of Harris-Brandt’s Master Thesis at the University of Waterloo. The thesis centred around the idea of contesting the limits with respect to the West Bank and Israel Military occupation. Working along side Eyal Weisman the thesis worked with design tactics to implement subtle change and progress.

Agonistic Response 1# | Fionn Byrne Thesis overview of Byrne’s Master Thesis at Toronto University. Byrne discussed the idea of man vs. environment with analysis of military governance over landscape architecture and monitory terrain through computer software - shaping the landscape by the touch of a button.

// Bruce Chatwin | The Origin of the Moleskine Notebook

16.

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part One | A Multivalent 3D Drawing

17.

design tactics Detail: Irregular Migration Path Model “Lines of flight through Indonesia”

01. BUOY SYSTEM | 02. WATER PURIFICATION ON ISLANDS | 03. SHELTER / OUTPOSTS These are design based environments to test and push the borders of the discipline of architecture. The relationship between the territory of Nomadicism and the movement across borders is explored through the way architecture can be a similarly responsive to the trialectic elements of space, politics and socio-economics. Drawing upon timing, movement and collaboration the proposal seeks to respond to the existing environmental and socio-political relations in our contemporary global environment. Key strategies are extrapolated in this proposal to question the way movement across borders within the Oceanic Region can be achieved in a zone of multiple territories. Movement and collaboration are reviewed with respect to the interpretation of contemporary Nomadic systems of wandering and how these behavioural characteristics can aid in the displacement of those who irregularly migrate within this region of the world. Spatial Nomadicism between territories are examined through a collective and shared experience of making spaces. The event of bordering links to the perception of Machinic phylum – reinforcing the third space of human flow and migration and is explored through the idea of ‘Holey Space’. It is an ‘under-ground spatial paradigm’ connected to the smooth Nomadic space and the striated – that being the political and social space of the territory. Design tactics are employed in order to create a multitude of spaces sought after through redirected journeys in order to establish new residencies for those caught between the threshold of Australia’s territory and excercision zone. The desired outcome of this is for a new geography to be established by the lines of flight established by those who seek Asylum. The space in which these design tactics arise is a borderless space of a multitude of belongings – reaffirming the autonomy and transversal territorial re-appropriation. // MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

The act of B/ordering + Borderlands In reality, borders are constantly shifting and their movement facilitates prosperous sites for creativity and design interventions. Thus, the Machinic phylum is deterritorialized through spaces of Borderlands constituted by the bordering activity of becoming. The model portrays these possible B/ordlands

The Borderlands can appear, disappear and flow within the third space of human occupancy. The Borderlands are established through this process and signify the hybridization and transnational occupancy of this space. The B/orderlands create new strategies for making connections and ensuring the safety of those who a trapped between the push and pull factors of border waiting.

// Bruce Chatwin | The Origin of the Moleskine Notebook

18.

View A.

View B.

The Australasian Archipelago + Lines of Flight (Irregular Migration Paths) //

// Briallen Roberts | â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Feralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part Three | Thesis Presentation

19.

Propaganda Poster One //

RINGEDwith MENACE OPPORTUNITY

// 1/2

In foucauldian terms, those forced into a pejorative state [such as an asylum seeker or refugee] become, primarily the objects of speech. the design tactics are explored through the process of collage on WWII Australian propaganda posters. Here, the government of the time used imagery to set up a kaleidoscope of ideologies in order to establish a particular set of views towards possible invaders. Thus, I seek to explore the experimental and the speculative, and the role that architects play in the process.

2012 // Ringed with Opportunity, Remove the Gates - with Beauforts

B AR

R E M O V E THE G ATES - WITH â&#x20AC;&#x2DC; B E A U F O R T S â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

20.

// The Objects of Speech | Designed Based Environments

Propaganda Poster Two //

BORDERLANDS

THE ACT OF B/ORDERING

2/2 2012

A BORDERLESS SOCIETY MACHINIC PHYLUM

THE OCEANIC DIVIDE

THIRD SPACE OF OCCUPANCY

... in a transnational world!

Come Lad, Slip Across and Help...in a transnational world

COME LAD SLIP ACROSS AND HELP

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// Part Three | Thesis Presentation // Graphs + Statistics

04. Sweden

03. Germany 02. France 06. Canada

01. USA

05. Malaysia

07. Australia

Graph showing boat arrivals in Australia by Month

04. Sweden 05. Malaysia 06. Canada 07. Australia

01. Year 2008: The last year of The Howard Government Pacific Solution 02. Year 2011: The year before the Gillard Government re-introduced the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Pacific Solutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

2010 OECD statistic 01. USA 02. France 03. Germany

>>>

Top Seven* countries for Asylum seekers

900 2011 800

700

600

Pacific Solution Reinstated

500

400

300

200 2008

100

0 Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

May

Jun.

Jul.

Aug.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

// Irregular Migration | Australian Asylum Seeking A.

12,967 people taken into immigration centres 2011 -2012 H.

10,385

59 people who were in ‘other’ categories 01 seaport arrivals 02 stowaways 03 ship deserters

unauthorised arrivals

7,252

0.5 percent of total were foreign fishermen

80%

Highest number of people detained in immigration detention centres >>> June 30, 2012 <<<

unauthorised arrivals

2,455

2,014

or 19% were people who had been living in the community but over stayed or breached visa conditions.

unauthorised arrivals by plane

8,371 unauthorised arrivals by boat E.

>>> Irregular Maritime Arrivals in Australia by nationality (2008 - 2011) <<< 2008

2009

2010

2011

Total

A f g h a n i s t a n 118

1,409

2,964

1,603

6,094

1,156

1,581

2,809

Sri Lanka

736

536

211

1,499

Iraq

164

579

326

1,088

Stateless

379

Pakistan

188

223

Kurdish

178

Myanmar

165

Vietnam

101

132

Indonesia

Palestine

Syria

Country of Origin

Iran

Kuwait

Others

1,143

1,241

161

2,726

6,535

4,465

13,987

Total

>>> People entering Immigration Detention by arrival type. 2011 - 2012

<<<

Irregular maritime arrivals Unuthorised air arrivals Overstay or breach of visa Foreign Fisher Other

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

209 people

4,500

3721 people

6,000

1999

1998

339 people

660 people

1996

1997

237 people

1995

953 people

81 people

3,000

1994

1993

216 people

214 people

1991

1992

198 people

1990

26 people

1,500

1989

12/11

11/11

12/10

01 | 14th December 2011 Chakaria and Shaporodip (Bangladesh) to Malaysia Incident occured off the Bangladeshi coast close to Shaporidip Overcrowded boat started leaking then capsized and sunk Between 170 and 200 Muslim from NRS. All Males = According to media reports, the boat was overcrowded and therefore capsized. Fishing boats rescued many passengers; 25 are still missing. No bodies have been found.

01 | 23rd November 2011 Southern Maungdaw and Shaporidip (Myanmar and Bangladesh ) to Malaysia Incident occurred off the Bangladeshi / Mynanmar coast close to Shaporidip Two overcrowded boats started leaking and suck 270 Muslims from NRS. All Males = 200 passengers embarked in a first boat in south Maungdaw followed by additional 70 passengers in Shaporidip. Shortly after the embarkation of the second group, the boat started leaking. Passengers tried to swim towards another boat in the vicinity also carrying passengers from Shaporidip. With many people trying to board, the second vessel was destabilized and sank. 23 bodies were found along the Maungdaw coast while an estimated 50 to 60 people remain missing.

01 | 5th December 2010 Indonesia to Australia | Incident near Christmas Island Boat ran into rocks, started leaking and sank Estimated 90 people: Iranians Iraqis and Kurds. = 42 were rescued, 30 bodies were recovered and 18 persons remain missing, presumed dead.

// Part Three | Thesis Presentation // Graphs + Statistics

8,000

11 people

60 people

2005

2006

161 people

2849 people

2939 people

5516 people

4912 people

PACIFIC SOLUTION IMPLEMENTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT

2011

2010

2009

2008

148 people

15 people

2004

2007

53 people

1 person

2003

2002

2001

2000

6879 people

02/12

01/12

01 | 1st February 2012 Malaysia to Australia via Indonesia Incident occurred off the coast of Malaysia Boat capsized in rough seas 29 men, Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistan = Twelve men were rescued, eight men drowned and nine remain missing.

Rescued by the Indonesian authorities.

01 | 9th January 2012 Bangladeshi coast and South Maungdaw (Myanmar) to Malaysia Incident occurred off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia Boat lost at sea. It then run out of fuel and was finally rescued after 13 days. 39 men and 17 children all Muslims from NRS. All Males = Several groups of passengers embarked on the boat along the Bangladeshi coast and in South Maungdaw. Shortly after it sailed, it started leaking, capsized and sank quickly. A Burmese cargo boat rescued 33 passengers and brought them to Teknaf where they were arrested. Four bodies were found in Shaporidip, a few more in South Maungdaw and fishermen also spotted some floating at sea. It is estimated that around 120 people perished.

02 | 17th December 2011 Indonesia to Australia Incident occurred off the coast of Java, Indonesia Boat capsized 250 passengers = Boat capsized in rough seas resulting in the loss of estimated 200 lives. There were only 47 survivors.

// Irregular Migration | Australian Asylum Seeking

>>>

Boat arrivals in Australia by year (1989 to 2011)

Source: Parliament of Australia Website, http://www.aph. gov.au/library/pubs/BN/sp?BoatArrivals.htm

<<<

// Briallen Roberts | â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Feralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory

// MAS ETH in Urban Design | Application Portfolio 2013

Excision Zone

Location of boat interception

Exclusive Economic Zone

Lines of Flight

(Immigration Paths)

Territorial Sea Boundary

{ Perth

1. Detention Centre (27 p. Capacity) 2. Residential Housing (17 p. Capacity) 3. Community Detention (17 p. Capacity) OVER CAPACITY

Legend / Key

Northam Capacity 1500 men

Curtin

Leonora

Detention Centre (1200 p. Capacity) OVER CAPACITY

Residential Housing (210. Capacity in family groups)

OVER CAPACITY

Christmas Island

Port Augusta

Inverbrackie Community Detention (400 p. Capacity in family groups)

Residential Housing (60 capacity, eight single family homes)

Transit Accommodation (25 houses)

Adelaide

AUSTRALIA

1500 Capacity (men only)

Wickham Point

1. Detention Centre (536 p. Capacity) 2. Community Centre (610 p. Capacity)

Darwin

BORDERLANDS

Residential Housing (250 p. Capacity)

Pointville

1. Detention Centre (165 p. Capacity) 2. Community Detention (93 p. Capacity) 3. Residential Housing (19 houses)

Sydney

1. Transit Accommodation (144 p. Capacity) 2. Community Detention (85 p. Capacity) 3. Community Detention (105 p. Capacity)

Melbourne

Nauru Island

1. Transit Accommodation (29-40 p. Capacity) 2. Community Detention (139 p. Capacity)

Brisbane

Detention Centre 300 Capacity (single men only) OVER CAPACITY

Scherger

Manus Island

// Part Three | Australian Detention Centres + Housing

// Irregular Migration Pathways | Australian Asylum Seeking

// Briallen Roberts | ‘Feral’ Design Studio | Theory = Design = Theory