Encounterism: The Neglected Joys of Being In Person

£9.495
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Encounterism: The Neglected Joys of Being In Person

Encounterism: The Neglected Joys of Being In Person

RRP: £18.99
Price: £9.495
£9.495 FREE Shipping

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Description

Andy Field – along with his partner Beckie Darlington – have an international programme of projects which is really helping forge the next generation of architects, planners, urban designers and flaneurs, by asking them what they want from their cities. Field’s book takes you on a journey through his own everyday ‘encounters’ which have shaped his life. As a 40 year old, I had to work with 10 year olds to help them visualise what their (and my) home town would look like in 30 years time. At home with our screens, we have yet to bounce back from that disruption, yet to readopt old habits like commuting to the office or watching movies at the multiplex. And whether he's guiding us into mass snowball fights on the streets of London or the meaning of holding hands, this unmet stranger cheerfully reminds us all of the value of touch and the virtue of trying to see the world anew.

The book was written while the pandemic was going and seem to be finished right around when restrictions were being lifted. In an author’s note, Field says right up front that the idea for “Encounterism” came before the coronavirus pandemic, not in response to it, and that he wrote much of the book during “the caesura it created. Rather than being a long book just divided into continuing chapters, this is split into standalone essays that give you the opportunity to read, reflect, and put it down for a bit. In this deeply rewarding book, Andy Field brings together history, science, psychology, queer theory, and pop culture with his love of urban life and his own experiences―both as a city-dweller and as a performance artist―to forge creative connections: walking hand-in-hand with strangers, knocking on doors, staging encounters in parked cars. Why auditoriums, theatres, cinemas (and the act of being-in-person) goes beyond the spatial and visual; and can even be chemical – ‘literally breathing each other in’.Encounterism is a joyous immersion into the everyday pleasure and shared humanity we stand to lose in an increasingly digital world. A playful, analytical, informed, and poetic exploration of the delight and transformative power of real-life encounters. Field will draw upon his expertise in live performance that uses everyday people from around the world, to consider the choreography of each of these encounters and what they feel like, inviting readers to consider their interactions in the real world with the same precision and detail as carefully managed artistic encounters.

We must not lose sight of working with people we love working with… Therefore, meet in person, share those experiences, get hungry together, get hot/cold together, share in each other’s pains, radiate, share in joy, confidence, awkwardness, nervousness, and everything else that defines what it is to exist on this planet – together.After that I moved out from my childhood home where I grew up with 4 generations/8-6 people to now live in apartment with my husband and cat in a neighborhood where we don't know anyone.

I am particularly fond of the postscript which highlights ways to share this book with others; bringing them into the conversation.

To him, our most ordinary sidewalk interactions can be imbued with “friction and possibility … anxiety and joy.

He uses it when describing the strange but familiar comfort provided by a barber when our jugular is exposed. To me, the word "encounter" brings back the groups in that I participated back in the 1970s, we spent a couple of hours each time sitting on bean bags in a circle.The light touch of a hairdresser's hands on one's scalp, the euphoric energy of a nightclub, huddling with strangers under a shelter in the rain, a spontaneous snowball fight in the street, a daily interaction with a homeless man--such mundane connections, when we closely inhabit the same space, and touch or are touched by others, were nearly lost to "social distancing. I’m a positive/optimistic/enthusiastic person, but Field’s words take this to another level by mixing it with childlike wonder – that feeling of experiencing something for the first time.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

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