Anarchist Essays #40. Loughborough University’s Anarchism Research Group.
In this essay, Sarah Gelbard reflects on the messy relationship between punk, anarchy, and anarchism and ways it can be conceived of as identity, politics, scene, performance, and/or practice. For punks in academia and academics studying punk, how do we position ourselves in relation to the work, to power, and with our comrades?
Creative Mornings Ottawa
February 2021
Cities are places where people converge.
In the streets, in parks, in cafes, in workplaces, in schools, in arts and entertainment venues (at least before covid). This cosmopolitan ideal of “coming together” contributes to a city’s vibrancy and also its democratic potential.
But this ideal risks erasing difference for sameness. For what is “normal.” The many crises our cities face will not be resolved with more of the same. Maybe it’s time to make space for divergent cities, divergent stories, and divergent plans.
Asking For A Friend on CKCU, Interview by Susan Johnston
11 August 2020
Walking seminar developed for Ottawa (de)Tours. Summer 2015, 2016.
It has been said that brutalist architecture is “unloved but not unlovely”. Beyond the monolithic, opaque, concrete façades are buildings filled with drama, mystery, and strong civic focus. In the postwar building boom and leading up to the Centennial, grand and heroic ideals of civic welfare and cultural identity were translated into a new vision for Ottawa. The abstract, technically efficient, and impersonal nature of modernism was too closely tied to war. The strong character of brutalist architecture embodied renewed hope, stability, and humanity. Ironically, today we tend to misread these buildings as imposing and inhuman “eyesores”. Understanding the values and ideals behind these plans and buildings helps us to question what went wrong when they became built realities instead of utopian ideals. Continue reading “Ottawa (de)Tours: Brutalism”
Walking tour given as part of Jane’s Walk Ottawa-Gatineau, May 8 2016
(abridged version of Ottawa (de)tours Brutalism walk)
It has been said that brutalist architecture is “unloved but not unlovely.” Beyond the monolithic, opaque, concrete façades are buildings filled with drama, mystery, and strong civic focus. In the postwar building boom and leading up to the Centennial, grand and heroic ideals of civic welfare and cultural identity were translated into a new vision for Ottawa. The strong character of brutalist architecture embodied renewed hope, stability, and humanity. Ironically, today we tend to misread these buildings as imposing and inhuman “eyesores.” Continue reading “Jane’s Walk: Brutal Ottawa”
Interview on CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning, February 8 2016
Interview on CBC Radio’s In Town and Out, January 17 2015
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Talk given at TEDx ElginSt, March 2014
Sarah B. Gelbard 