‘...Lobster pot making is one of the oldest of crafts and has been handed down from father to son for generations. In this little Sussex port, six families of fishermen depend on the lobster for their livelihood...’
László Moholy-Nagy’s documentary ‘Lobsters’ - exhibited in 1936 - conveys more than the life of the familiar crustaceans, which it was commissioned to do. It highlights the ties and interlinks that materialise from the lobster’s life above and below the ocean ceiling: from its biological cycle of shedding and re-growing its shell, to the local fishermen’s economic reliance and traditional rituals dependant on their existence. Due to the laws of nature, these interwoven links organically experience highs and lows, but never fully cease. This idea of continuity and interconnectivity is what catalysed the theme for -ism’s Issue 02; an inspiration of habit, repetition, process and officially: The Cycle.
The amalgamation of this theme with the built environment is apt at a time when we see the recurrence of major political movements, a return to the traditional in defiance of globalisation and most of all, growing debates on architectural longevity and processes in relation to sustainability. Beyond this, -ism simply recognised that responding to the cycle forces us to reflect on the past in concurrence with questioning the present, whilst deliberating the future - in a tone that is not successive. Evidence of this incentive lies in our contributions for Issue 02: John Joseph Burns conveys the growth, plummet and reinterpretation of ‘Glasgow Classicism’ through the tenement typology, highlighting its resilience within the inevitable phases of the urban cycle (p.06). With a more universal outlook and integrated with graphical chaos, Athanasios Paparis provokes us to confront the linear manner in which we understand the vernacular and the traditional, in relation to architecture; announcing that we cannot truly grasp our ancestor’s architectural past unless we alter our perception to the cycle (p.40). Shifting to the more tangible, Laura Petruskeviciute’s REPLASTIC02 project is symbolically defiant against the overuse of plastic in everyday life, in which Petruskeviciute displays how design can actively transform waste into more useful, long term purposes (p.54). The issue is concluded with a fluid short story by Teodor Hadirca, a narrative of imagination and youth through fictional mechanical giants; reflecting how we understand history and move forward from societal disasters (p.72).
In addition to our content, at -ism, we continue to believe in the importance of printed matter, with the constant aim of encouraging a reciprocal relationship between writer and reader. Therefore, you may find yourself twisting and turning the magazine around to fully experience it. With this, we encourage tactility and engagement with the written word, in unison with an underlying visual concept of cyclical havoc. We hope you enjoy this issue and that you find yourself returning to its eternally relevant topics, in honour of The Cycle.