Roundtable Statement

Roundtable: ADA Mesh Cities: Network, Space and Memory in the Transitional City

I have been thinking about the ways in which humans have historically imagined disaster and the current tools that we have for doing this. For me this connects with the concept of mesh cities, by asking how do artists contribute to the way that we might re-imagine a city post-disaster? The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was a moment that shifted the ground that gave us Modernism. Authors, poets and artists found themselves confronting the ruins of what had until then been a sense of permanence, of the modern individual within certain architectural forms. The Christchurch earthquake will also contribute something to future art making. Lisbon 250 years ago was a specific and particular experience for the Portuguese people. It is a reminder of the general as well as the specific.

• Su Ballard, Art History, Visual and Media Art, University of Wollongong, Australia

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