thawed
Welcome to
thawed: a result of
the collaboration between the School of Architecture and Graphic
Design Departments at the University of Illinois. We began work
in the Spring 2008, co-teaching a seminar with participants from
both disciplines, and invited contributions from the University
community to participate in our dialogue.
Both the result of, and a reflection on, our condition within
the Midwest, thawed is
a product of its place and an interface between the University
of Illinois and broader discussions on architecture,
information, and print media.
thawed is a research
project and experiment that aims to reveal things hidden from
the numbing slumber of habituation and cultivate meaningful
moments within the digitized torrent of mass media. If
conventional wisdom categorizes information as fluid and
architecture as frozen, thawed is an attempt to alter the state
of both and explore the transitional phases between them. Not
merely a container of ideas, nor a mirror of them, it is a
catalyst for action.
You will quickly notice the journal is in pieces. It comes to
you as a collection of multiple pamphlets, objects, and posters
that can be viewed together as a unit, or distributed in
individual pieces. There is no correct order; there are only
reconfigurable variations. Included in your package are sections
that will have an afterlife beyond this inaugural issue as part
of an ongoing series, as well as one-off design projects.
Field Correspondence:
is a reaction from the "field" and includes curated submissions
from students and faculty at the University in the form of
notes, essays, and objects.
A Very Long
Conversation: extends or responds to themes explored by
earlier publications of the University, while at the same time,
sparking new talking points for design culture in the Midwest.
It is intended to be a continuous stream of 'conversation'
between each issue of the journal.
We believe that print media, at its best, allows room for the
reader to engage both intellectually and materially with ideas.
This collection is an attempt to create this space for a two-way
interaction with you, its reader. The journal then is our
surrogate - a mobile virtual character, or avatar - in a
transportable conversation with you to be taken along your way.
Prof. Stewart Hicks, Architecture; Prof. Jimmy Luu, Art + Design
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