Renée Tobe | University of East London (original) (raw)

Papers by Renée Tobe

Film, Architecture and Spatial Imagination, 2016

Films use architecture as visual shorthand to tell viewers everything they need to know about the... more Films use architecture as visual shorthand to tell viewers everything they need to know about the characters in a short amount of time. Illustrated by a diverse range of films from different eras and cultures, this book investigates the reciprocity between film and architecture. Using a phenomenological approach, it describes how we, the viewers, can learn how to read architecture and design in film in order to see the many inherent messages. Architecture’s representational capacity contributes to the plausibility or 'reality' possible in film. The book provides an ontological understanding that clarifies and stabilizes the reciprocity of the actual world and a filmic world of illusion and human imagination, thereby shedding light on both film and architecture.

Architecture and Culture, 2016

This paper looks at Alain Resnais' Last Year in Marienbad (1961) and Chris Marker's La Jetée (196... more This paper looks at Alain Resnais' Last Year in Marienbad (1961) and Chris Marker's La Jetée (1962). It rests on a premise of film as a constructed, ordered world that answers only to itself. Both films address particular questions about time: what happens to our anticipation of the future if we move back and forth in time reinventing our past and present? (Marienbad) or, can we escape our ruined present by moving into the future? (La Jetée). From Jacques Lacan, it borrows the concepts of the mirror stage by which we recognise ourselves, and of the objet petit a, the looking for which (both in terms of 'search' and 'seeing') is that from which we derive our pleasure. From Jean-Luc Nancy it adopts descriptions of how film touches us, and the careful orchestration of the pleasure that is jouissance in being within this moment, not knowing where we are going.

Papers of the British School at Rome, 2018

My stay at the British School at Rome formed part of my research for a monograph on the toga (und... more My stay at the British School at Rome formed part of my research for a monograph on the toga (under contract to Bloomsbury Pressexpected to be published in 2019). The book traces the toga's history from its Etruscan origins, through its use as an everyday garment in the early Roman period, to its increasingly exclusive role as a symbol of privilege in the late Republic and Empire, and its decline in late antiquity. It aims to show how the toga was not just an item of clothing, but a highly charged symbol that in its various forms was used extensively in Roman culture to define and display important cultural boundaries. The research is arranged thematically, and looks at the garment in terms of its significance for gender identity, status distinction, political views, cultural-ethnic identity and religious boundaries. The focus is not only on the core of the empire (Rome and Italy), but also the provinces. My BSR Fellowship formed the final stage of this research, allowing me to complete work on the central sections of the book dealing with Rome and Italy. Specifically, it enabled me both to access key works of scholarly (especially Italian) literature in Roman libraries, and to study key monuments up close in important museum collections. As a result, although I spent a large portion of my time in the wonderful surroundings of the BSR Library, I also spent many fruitful days in other Roman institutional libraries and in various museums, primarily the Capitoline and Vatican Museums and the Centrale Montemartini. Not only was I able to complete longstanding research tasks, but I also discovered new and surprising elements of the toga and the way it was worn in some of the lesser-known monuments in the Roman museums, which has taken my research in some slightly different directions. In many ways, however, the most profound benefits of my stay were the less tangible ones: the opportunity to be away from the distractions of normal work and home life to allow thoughts and ideas to take root and grow, andperhaps more importantlythe quality of the environment: having the chance to present to and talk through my ideas with other borsisti and scholars at the BSR has had a fundamental effect on my approach to the toga project. I am very grateful both to them and the exceptionally helpful BSR staff for making my stay so enjoyable and productive. The BSR is a unique place: long may it thrive!

Film, Architecture and Spatial Imagination, 2016

This paper looks at Alain Resnais’ Last Year in Marienbad (1961) and Chris Marker’s La Jetée (196... more This paper looks at Alain Resnais’ Last Year in Marienbad (1961) and Chris Marker’s La Jetée (1962). It rests on a premise of film as a constructed ordered world that answers only to itself, and that exists only in the ‘now’. Both films respond to particular questions: what happens if we move back and forth in time reinventing our past and our present? (Marienbad) or, can we escape our ruined present by moving into the future? (La Jetée). The main points are the future as an escape from the ever-present present; Jacques Lacan’s mirror stage by which we recognise ourselves; jouissance, and the object petit a, the looking for which (both in terms of ‘search’ and ‘seeing’) is the ‘where’ from which we derive our pleasure; and Jean-Luc Nancy’s description of how film touches us, and the pleasure in being within this moment, not knowing where we are going.

Universities, or, as they are currently referred to, Higher Education Institutions, are places of... more Universities, or, as they are currently referred to, Higher Education Institutions, are places of production -producing degrees, intelligence, and even good citizens in an increasingly business oriented model. When Plato's Academy becomes a 'knowledge factory' that must turn a profit, architecture becomes a key component of design, in urbanicity, building fabric and internal layout. Learning takes place less in a raked lecture hall than an undefined landscape. There is a tension between investigations of how architecture relates to learning and decisions made by which Universities can generate income through productive spaces.

When we say we are "caught up" in a story or that we "get lost" in a novel, it doesn't mean we ha... more When we say we are "caught up" in a story or that we "get lost" in a novel, it doesn't mean we have lost our orientation in traversing the terrain constructed by the writer. We really mean the opposite, that we are so fully and deeply oriented within that world that we have lost, for the moment, our connection with our own. This process is simple in that it takes place quickly, and without our realizing anything has transpired. Yet it is also complex, for if we try to examine the manner by which we accumulate a medley of coded information to follow the story and to position ourselves in a world of someone else's creation we may easily become mired. In literature, as in architecture or urban situations when narratives or places flow smoothly from one location to the next, they create a seamless exploration of a particular world. Narrative breaks, temporal shifts, or gaps in circulation on the other hand, make us look up and take account of where we are going and where we might have arrived. We may find ourselves in an unusual space or situation, a place not yet encountered, that somehow seems strangely familiar and we "recognize" it. Somehow, no matter how strange, we "know" how to find our way. Elektra: Assassin, a graphic novel scripted by Frank Miller and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz provides an excellent example for exploration of these principles that apply not only to textual media in general and to sequential art in particular, but also architecture and the city (Miller, 1986).

Architectural Theory Review, 2005

... a letter from the earh \ ears nil heir acquaintance Benjamin asked: "Are ethics possible... more ... a letter from the earh \ ears nil heir acquaintance Benjamin asked: "Are ethics possibles it ... assimilate with the inanimate world makes Benjamin's observations so relevant to the question ol architecture. It suggests a capacity to read inn selvesintoaset(>lcondititins Figmv.I lookingn ...

Arq-architectural Research Quarterly, 2007

In the dialogue of his name, Protagoras professes to teach aretē and in particular politikē aretē... more In the dialogue of his name, Protagoras professes to teach aretē and in particular politikē aretē. Plato's exposition of how a skill becomes an excellence through the giving of justice and good sense demonstrates the relation of politikē and polis and the relation of justice to both. The linguistic origins of politikē technē conceal whether it is a craft relating to city building and planning in terms of architecture, and reveals the role it plays in how to plan a city as a society of justice. Different translations of politikē aretē and politikēn technon shed light on our received notions of civic justice and the complexities of urban co-existence, that is, the means by which millions of individuals from diverse strata all live together in cities.

Conference Presentations by Renée Tobe

Vision, Perspectiva and Shifting Modalities of Representation, 2019

Is what we see the ‘truth’? Can anamorphic imagery resolve the dichotomy between science and fait... more Is what we see the ‘truth’? Can anamorphic imagery resolve the dichotomy between science and faith? In the 1640s Emmanuel Maignon, a French monk in residence at Trinitá dei Monti, the Minim Monastery in Rome, created an anamorphic wall painting of St John of Patmos in an upstairs gallery. This was about a hundred years after the controversial work of astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, and when Galileo Galilei, placed in house arrest by the Pope for presenting a heliocentric solar system that was not only heretical as it contradicted Holy Scripture but philosophically ‘foolish and absurd’, was nearing the end of his life. Studies of optics did not originate in the renaissance, as there were many advances between the ninth and fourteenth centuries when Euclidean theories were tested and advanced. In particular the Arab scholar, Alhazan, (985-1040) wrote about how optics influenced our understanding of the nature of reflection and refraction of light. In the 17th century, three men who were friends with one another, a Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), Minim friars Jean-Francois Niceron, (1613-1646) and Emanuel Maignan, (1601-1676) also devised proposals for catoptric and anamorphic projection, using developments optics and perspective to question divine light and perception in a merging of science and faith asking if we can rely on what we see, or if there is a hidden, perhaps heretical or even divine message hidden in the imagery. This paper examines some examples of anamorphosis, at Trinitá dei Monti painted by Maignon, at St Ignazio the Jesuit church in Rome painted by Andrea Pozzo (1691-1694) and of course Hans Holbein’s The Ambassadors painted in 1533 and hanging in the National Gallery. It begins by questioning the philosophical meaning and concludes with a technical examination of how catoptrics and anamorphosis work, through a student workshop where we attempted to create an anamorphic image in the studio.

Based on work done with M. Arch students at the University of East London this presentation demon... more Based on work done with M. Arch students at the University of East London this presentation demonstrates 5 easy steps to write an outstanding dissertation. It explores the use of images in developing and teaching academic writing. It shows how assessed components such as the essay or dissertation that involve writing, can benefit from an approach that considers the image to be more than a mere illustration to a text. It argues for an understanding and integration of images as cognitive agents in the communication of ideas and, more specifically, in the building of a so-called ‘argument’. Referencing the work of art historian Aby Warburg (1866-1929) and his famous Picture-Atlas Mnemosyne, this presentation illustrates how Warburg’s pioneering iconographic method, based on the juxtaposition of images, becomes a tool to help students think critically (about architecture) and articulate ideas through visual as well as verbal means.

Books by Renée Tobe

Films use architecture as visual shorthand to show viewers what they need to know about character... more Films use architecture as visual shorthand to show viewers
what they need to know about characters in a short amount of
time. Using a phenomenological approach to look at a diverse
range of international, historical and contemporary films,
this book describes how we as viewers can read architecture
and design on the big screen to see a number of underlying
messages. Architecture’s representational capacity contributes
to the plausibility or realities that are possible in film. The book
provides an ontological understanding that clarifies and
stabilises the reciprocity between our actual and filmic worlds
of illusion and human imagination, thereby shedding light on
both cinema and architecture.

Film, Architecture and Spatial Imagination, 2016

Architecture and Culture, 2016

Papers of the British School at Rome, 2018

Film, Architecture and Spatial Imagination, 2016

Architectural Theory Review, 2005

Arq-architectural Research Quarterly, 2007

Vision, Perspectiva and Shifting Modalities of Representation, 2019