Issue No. 2 (Theme )
Dear Reader,
Dominant institutions continue to accrue power, distorting the truth of those most marginalized. In the essay Poetry is Not a Luxury Audre Lorde suggests that poetry is heresy. Lorde writes that “we must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions our dreams imply and some of our old ideas disparage.” Using architecture to describe the power that words can have, Lorde describes poetry as a “fortress,” “sanctuary,” and “skeleton architecture.” Poetry can be an emancipatory experience as concrete as a poured foundation. Architecture, as appropriated by Lorde, builds upon and reinforces heretical dreams.
Heresy emerged as a call in 13th century Christian inquisition courts to label those outside of orthodox christian practice, but has since been reappropriated by revolutionary thinkers for the purpose of describing resistance or betrayal to prescribed forms of knowledge.
Lorde’s essay offers language and poetry as a starting point to practicing “heresy”. However, as artists and designers, how does the idea of dissent take physical form within the landscape and infrastructure? Can buildings directly confront historical narratives or institutions? Or can they serve as an indirect rejection, a way of living through perseverance, in spite of rhetoric that seeks to control, classify, and contain.
For the possibility of a more promising future, send us writing and work that this journal may pull at the threads of a new heretical thinking. With your voice among ours, a new chorus might emerge.
Sincerely,
Scale Journal
Issue No. 2 Application