This presentation explores the contributions of five prominent Arab architects—Victor Hannah Bisharat, Mohamed Saleh Makiya, Abbad Mohammed Salim Al Radi & Nazar Ahmad (Planar), Lucien Cassia & Bernard Cassia, and Farouk El Gohary—highlighting their diverse architectural influences and projects across the Arab world. Special focus is given to Iraqi architect Mohamed Makiya, tracing his educational journey from Baghdad to the North of England, where he pursued his architectural training. The presentation delves into his significant works, with particular attention on their architectural achievements in Abu Dhabi. The discussion integrates the Theory of Architectural Contact Zones, which proposes that modernism in architecture flowed between different spaces and eras, adapting to the Arab region’s cultural context. This theory is presented as a framework for understanding the exchange of architectural knowledge and how architectural modernist principles were analyzed, adapted and reinterpreted by these Arab architects, resulting in a unique architectural language that bridges local traditions with global modernism.

In January 1860 a commercial treaty between France and England (the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty) was agreed. The treaty was 150 years in the making and the establishment of Free Trade (as opposed to Protectionism) as English economic strategy – a change in approach that was foundational to the evolution of Industrial Capitalism. Whilst the treaty was led by the Liberal politician Richard Cobden, it was helped over the line, in no small part, by Jacob Behrens, a German textile merchant living in the wool town of Bradford in the north of England. Behren’s contribution was described as ‘first class diplomacy’ – which in the context of English foreign policy in the 19^th century meant being able to navigate the drawing rooms and exclusive social settings of the upper classes. Behrens was comfortable in these rooms – growing up his mother had turned their private salons into cultural and educational spaces, she was a part of the emerging Bildungsbürgertum (a social class of intellectuals). Later, when Behrens established Bradford’s first Chamber of Commerce (a group founded to advocate for the commercial interests of the town), ideas of Bildungsbürgertum could be seen in its organisation. A local newspaper described the setting for an annual meeting of the group as, ‘the saloon as usual had the appearance of an elegant drawing-room’. Bradford’s Chamber of Commerce went on to challenge the workings of parliament and influenced the structuring of governmental departments to better suit Bradford’s industrial interests abroad. German migrants arriving in Bradford in the early 19^th century took a leading role in establishing institutions of German culture, promoting German music, literature and lifestyle. German merchants, especially but not exclusively, Behrens, established international trading links which fuelled the growth of the town’s industry. As Bradford went through a period of rapid urban regeneration and expansion due to the growth of the industry, ideas such as Bildungsbürgertum informed the shaping of a new urban identity and in turn the identity and experience of those living in Bradford. This paper will consider how through these influences Bradford became instrumental, not only in the creation of the working class but of the middle class also.

William Bradford's voyage to Greenland in 1869, a journey purely for the purpose of artistic production, serves as a point of entry into the artistic histories of the region, as well as of the history of imposition and land extraction. A chronological analysis of representations of Greenland in early artistic works at the dawn of photography will help to reconstruct their relationship to contemporary geopolitical tensions in the country. This presentation will outline two strands of research. One will consider the voyage from Newfoundland to the northwestern waters of Greenland that Bradford narrated and documented in his 1873 book Arctic Regions. The narrative is accompanied by his paintings and an extensive collection of photographs taken by John Lapham Dunmore and George P. Critcherson - a new medium for the Arctic endeavour and therefore a crucial shift in representation. The study of these photographs allows for an analysis of their referential or systematic framing in relation to historical representations in painting, engraving and illustration. The book thus provides a glimpse into a broader study of the semiotic visual structures of an overarching narrative, as told by Arctic exploration, that dominates a collective understanding (of those outside the region). The other research moves forward in history, the introduction of photography allows for a more accurate tracing and referential visual analysis of environmental change, and therefore introduces insights into contemporary geopolitical tensions. As the route follows the west coast of the island along the then and now most densely populated areas of Greenland, it is possible to study a 'newly' colonised landscape in comparison with the current 'post-colonial' but equally contested situation of the present. For example, in relation to the centralised urbanisation of the Danish occupation, especially in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, or the mining activities in the south. Activities that are defined by processes of external imposition and extraction.

The research will outline the historical development of radiology and radiotherapy at Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli. Underlining the evolution of radiotherapy techniques, from early methods involving bone alignment for directing radiation beams to the current integration of imaging and treatment in a single machine. As Foucault observed in "The Birth of the Clinic," providing an archaeology of medical perception, the act of seeing in the late eighteenth century involved perceiving the corporeal opacity of bodies — their solidity, obscurity, and density. The power of vision rested solely on the gaze of the medical observer that traversed over and around bodies. This initial medical gaze evolved over time into a technologically mediated form, transitioning into what can be described as the operative gaze (Harun Farocki 2000), gradually penetrating the body’s depths. First captured by sensors, transformed in visual matter the medical images are then manually coloured by radiologists to match anatomical and pathological features. This process is similar to architectural practices where coherence and consistency across different layers and dimensions of representation are essential. Images are used as predictive models. In radio-therapy three-dimensional avatars of patients are created. As the field is evolving deep learning models penetrate not only the deepness of the human flesh but also recompose a shattered multitude of exemples into a shared commonality of the pathological. If the vision of the hospital as a healing machine is dangerous, it is particularly so when healthcare workers are considered nothing more than the robotic arms of such a machine. The project addresses the experience of radiologists and radiotherapists, starting from something as simple as their daily exposure to radiation, monitored through devices like dosimeters. To document how caring practices in healthcare can impact at a physical subatomic level the healthcare workers. We will highlight this especially in situations of radiologist shortage that only increase a growing feeling of alienation and exhaustion. From an architectural perspective, it is interesting to observe how regimes of visibility are subverted in the radiological department. The body is made transparent in bunker-like rooms with wide walls and no windows to prevent radiation from escaping. The image produced is opaque because only a trained eye can understand its nuances. The healthcare workers direct operations behind thick protective shields of glass and body armors.

Located on the eastern edge of Tibet, the Zoige Wetland is called གླང་དཀར་སྟོད (the white on the land) in the local language. From the perspective of most Tibetans, གླང་དཀར་སྟོད is a natural heritage and home not only to local Tibetans but also to non-human beings such as other creatures, environmental entities, empowered beings and mountain deities. However, this relational representation of གླང་དཀར་སྟོད has been over-coded to the world's largest alpine peat wetland and a vital water source for the Yellow River, according to the discourse of techno-science and the state. Since the Chinese Communist Party took control of the region in 1953, གླང་དཀར་སྟོད has undergone significant transformations, mobilising different forms of representation aimed at improving national productivity and promoting state interests. These representations, rooted in a reductive perspective of both living and non-living entities, abstract and simplify གླང་དཀར་སྟོད into a wetland, a scientific object, and a state resource. This talk will examine the reclamation, privatisation and construction of a national park around གླང་དཀར་སྟོད, arguing that this has led to the marginalisation of Tibetan knowledge and the forced manipulation of the land by Tibetans themselves. The presenter will also explore the contribution that spatial practice can make to local knowledge transmission in the contemporary Chinese context, as well as the reflexivity and shifting positionality during fieldwork and practice.