Block by Block
<p>Civilizations at their peak present curious spectacles. They ooze wealth and pride, produce fantastic art and technologies, all while shredding the foundations of their prosperity. Their citizens seem to believe they eclipse mundane restrictions of time and space. The monuments their predecessors have left in Rome, on Easter Island, in Egypt, in Venice, littered like warning beacons elsewhere throughout the world, demonstrate such faith may not match reality. A rock thrown skyward must believe, at the top of its arc, fleetingly, that it is flying.</p> <p>When we admire our great cities, we find it hard to believe that they will ever crumble. Most city dwellers even appear to belong to urban cults. In their apartments, surrounded by buildings, you will often find pictures on their walls of—more buildings! These often feature local landmarks, but also occasionally scenes from such eternal cities as Paris, London and New York. These photos hang like private shrines to nature’s irrelevance.</p> <p>Or perhaps the photos signify obeisance. Maybe people want to show they believe in urbanization, hoping that when the machines revolt, they’ll grant leniency to those organisms with a demonstrable affection for architecture. You can’t help but admire glass towers, and hope that they’re on your side…</p>
Editors: Nitasha S, Amin Husain, Yates McKee
Contributors: Chantal Mouffe, George Caffentzis, Michael Ellick, Pamela Brown, Shyam Khanna, Anonymous Labor Organizer, Occupy Wall Street, Strike Debt, Michael Hardt, Silvia Federici, Jesal Kapadia, Ann Larson, Nastaran Mohit, Albert Carcaterra, Sofía Gallisá Muriente, Zoltán Glück, Manissa McCleave Maharawal, Isabelle Nastasia, Conor Tomás Reed, Audre Lorde
Designer: Zak Greene, Ingrid Burrington, Josh MacPhee
Tidal+ Member: Nicholas Mirzoeff, Andi Millar, Andrew Ross, Nathan Schneider, Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri, Alejandro Varela, Amar Husain, Aleksandra Perisic, Nicole Hala
Thank: John Merz, Ron Clark, Muna Shami, Strike Debt Space Team, Winter Casuccio, Arabic Translators, Eric Ribellarsi, Patricia González, Thomas Hintze, Greg Ruggiero, Tidal Family
Part of: Tidal