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A Book I Love

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13 July, 2022

Each episode of A Book I Love (A-B-I-L) is a conversation around a book that is special to one of the speakers. It is a companion text, in the words of Sara Ahmed, that in some way or another intersects with an idea of architecture.

Episode 1: The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, chosen by Helen Thomas
Episode 2: Real Estate by Deborah Levy, chosen by Tine Milz
Episode 3: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, chosen by Alicia Ayla Yerebakan
Episode 4: Testo Junkie by Paul Preciado, chosen by Paul Grieguszies and Linda Sjoqvist
Episode 5: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chosen by Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Laura Evans
Episode 6King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes, chosen by Carmen Van Pamel
Episode 7: Slowly: a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman by Judy Grahn, chosen by Geraldine Tedder
Episode 8: Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature by Margaret Atwood, chosen by Mariana Siracusa

The episodes can be listened to below and can also be found on Spotify
The listening station installed at Madame ETH is now closed

Episode 1: The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, chosen by Helen Thomas

On the 10th of May, an incident occurred near Madame ETH’s kiosk, admittedly deliberate. In preparation for a short series of conversations for Women Writing Architecture called ‘A Book I Love’, a small group sat on a sofa to talk about Nan Shepherd’s book ‘The Living Mountain’, and to reflect on how it could be a book about architecture.

With:

Geraldine Tedder (curator and writer), Alicia Yerebakan, (painter, alter-ego is Madame ETH), Adam Caruso (architect and teacher), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect)

Where:

In the entrance hall of the Department of Architecture (HIL building) at ETH  Zürich, Hönggerberg campus


Episode 2: Real Estate by Deborah Levy, chosen by Tine Milz

On a sunny morning of mid-July, the sun is already beating down on the small, unnamed square ambushed in the Zurich old town somewhere between the Neumarkt and the Leuengasse. A small group took up position on a bench to discuss the third volume of the living autobiography of the intriguing Deborah Levy.

With:

Tine Milz (theatre director), Geraldine Tedder (curator), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect)

Where:

on a public square in Zürich old town

 


Episode 3 : The Island of missing Trees by Elif Shafak, chosen by Alicia Ayla Yerebakan

On the first afternoon of the new academic year, A-B-I-L’s familiar voices: those of Geraldine, Madame ETH, the WWA editorial team, were joined by Shen He to discuss a popular book, already subject of many book clubs, written by the Turkish author, Elif Shafak.

With:

Geraldine Tedder (curator), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist, Madame ETH), Shen He (architect)

Where:

in the shade of a tree in the gardens of the ETH Hönggerberg Campus

 

            


Episode 4 : Testo Junkie by Paul Preciado, chosen by Paul Grieguszies and Linda Sjøqvist

One evening of November, the A-B-I-L’s team found themselves in the big, red, and now empty room of the Kino Roland, which used to be a sex cinema on the Langstrasse just a few steps away from the main station of Zürich. The collective Querformat occupied the site for a few weeks during this indefinate interim period of the building’s life to put it under investigation. Paul, part of Querformat and Linda, engaging with the Parity Group at the ETH, chose the provocative text of Testo Junkie to discuss the different states of what a transformation can be.

With:

Geraldine Tedder (curator), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist, Madame ETH), Paul Grieguszies Schäfer (architect), Linda Dannesboe Sjøqvist (architect)

Where:

at Kino Roland, Langstrasse 111, 8004 Zurich

Video Artwork (extract) from Mathilde Agius


Episode 5: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chosen by Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Laura Evans

For this first international encounter, A-B-I-L voices, Geraldine, Madame ETH, the WWA editorial team invited Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Laura Evans to discuss around the book Purple Hibiscus, how fiction can be a place that gives a tool, a language, a way of thinking to pose the ideas architectural education might not challenge.

With:

Geraldine Tedder (curator), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist, Madame ETH), Nana Biamah-Ofosu (architect), Laura Evans (architect)

Where:

in the Foyer of the Barbican in London, in Zürich, in Lucerne

 


Episode 6: King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes, chosen by Carmen Van Pamel

We recorded the 6th episode of A-B-I-L at After 8 Books in Paris. This wonderful bookshop and publisher also runs an intense programme of events. On 16 February, we sneaked in before opening hours to hold our incidental conversation about Virginie Despentes’ provocative book, King Kong Theory.

With:

Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist, Madame ETH), Carmen Van Pamel (writer, architect)

Where:

in the bookshop After 8 Books, 7 Rue Jarry, in Paris


Episode 7: Slowly: a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman by Judy Grahn, chosen by Geraldine Tedder

In August 2023, we met in Ennenda and you will hear some familiar voices of A-B-I-L, joined by the German artist Gritli Faulhaber.

The conversation deals with the challenging but fruitful issue of how poetry can be writing about architecture, and this is addressed in several ways as we talk about the poem Slowly: a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman by poet and activist, Judy Grahn.

With:

Tine Milz (theatre director), Geraldine Tedder (curator), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist), Gritli Faulhaber (artist)

At:

Ennenda, Glarus


Episode 8: Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, chosen by Mariana Siracusa

In December 2023, we travelled to Milan to visit Spazio. This bookshop is edited by and filled with the presence of Mariana Siracusa. On display is a carefully chosen, read through, and ever-changing list of 300 old, rare and newly published books.

Mariana, who is from Argentina but who spent time at the CCA in Montreal, was joined by an uncharacteristically small number of people – just two: Helen Thomas of women writing architecture and architect and Canadian Adam Caruso, to discuss how this provocative book by Margaret Atwood, first published in 1972, could be relevant to the architectural discourse, and specifically Canadian architecture and it’s context in Canadian nature, and the Canadian immigrant experience.

With:

Mariana Siracusa (bookseller and scholar), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Adam Caruso (architect and teacher)

At:

Spazio, Milan

A Book I Love

Each episode of A Book I Love (A-B-I-L) is a conversation around a book that is special to one of the speakers. It is a companion text, in the words of Sara Ahmed, that in some way or another intersects with an idea of ...