Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061165
4 0 P E R S P E C T I V E | J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 R E S O U R C E S C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 3 9 THE STRIP: LAS VEGAS AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM BY STEFEN AL Vegas started as a reflection of what we remember of the Wild West, saloon doors and wagon wheels. It then turned mid-century modern sleekness. It has illuminated itself with twenty-story-high neon signs. It has replicated castles, pirates and historical worldly icons (Eiffel Tower, NYC, Venetian canals). It is now in a phase of having casinos designed by famous architects and a zillion-dollar collection of art. University of Pennsylvania professor Stefen Al examines the many transformations of Vegas and argues that the city reflects American society. He claims the most distinctly American city is Las Vegas. He also gives the argument that the town's evolution embodies the metamorphosis of the American Dream. In understanding the United States, you begin with Vegas. FILM CULTURE 80: THE LEGEND OF BARBARA RUBIN BY JONAS MEKAS Go back to the '60s New York and follow the life of a richly creative filmmaker and performer, Barbara Rubin. She was a little-known, but highly important figure in the internationalization of the avant-garde. Having entered the New York Underground in the 1960s while still a teenager, she produced a pioneering 1963 double-projection film Christmas on Earth, featuring painted and masked performers engaging in a variety of gay and straight sexual acts, that was both aesthetically innovative and sexually provocative. She worked regularly with Jonas Mekas and Andy Warhol, introduced Bob Dylan to Allen Ginsberg, and connected Warhol with The Velvet Underground. During an intense period of activity and travel, Rubin wrote passionate letters about film and the underground to Mekas. This book includes interviews, photographs and Rubin's script, Christmas on Earth Continued, a sequel to her notorious film. SOCIAL DESIGN BY CLAUDIA BANZ, MICHAEL KROHN Architects and designers have always played a vital role in shaping society. Social Design presents a long-overdue survey of current international activity in this realm, from new infrastructures and the reclaiming of cities by their inhabitants as seen in the work of Assemble and Gehl Architects to build-it-yourself housing by Urban Think Tank, all the way to GRAFT's solar kiosk, an energy source that is driving sustainable development opportunities for communities. The book addresses this enormous topic in six chapters: Urban Space and Landscape, Living, Education, Work, Migration, Production, Networks and Environment. Some 27 projects in the areas of cityscape and countryside, housing, education and work, production, migration, networks and the environment are framed by three research studies that trace the historical roots and foundations of social design and look at today's theoretical discourse, as well as future trends.