MAS CONTEXT

http://www.mascontext.com/about/

MAS Context, es una revista trimestral creada por Studio MAS. Se ocupa de cuestiones que afectan al contexto urbano. Cada número se centran en un solo tema y lo aborda desde una  variedad de campos del diseño por arquitectos, fotógrafos, escritores, diseñadores industriales, músicos, artistas gráficos, urbanistas ....... La combinación de las distintas técnicas ofrece una visión global. Luego, se trata de compartir las ideas y puntos de vista a través de diferentes  medios para llegar a una audiencia global.

Su sede está en Chicago, pero quiere tener un alcance  global. Se presentan como una plataforma para el intercambio de propuestas pertinentes, ideas y experiencias que ayuden a avanzar en el mundo del diseño. Se plantean un enfoque  simple y  a la vez profundo. En cada tema se convoca a pensar en nuevas posibilidades, liderando a todos a colaborar de nuevas maneras, lo cual desata un gran debate. Se pide a los diseñadores  a actuar de maneras nuevas e inimaginables. "Piensa. Colabora. Debate. Actúa." es el moto.

La revista participó en el debate Archizines de Storefront, donde Iker Gil presentó un manifiesto de 10 puntos  que establecen la metodología y los objetivos de MAS Context: 

1. DO IT FOR YOURSELF

Create the magazine that you would like to read. You are the audience of what you do so be passionate and critical. In the end, it is an extension of you as an architect and as a way of understanding the profession. Use it to define and reinvent yourself. Architecture, and design in general, demands expertise, commitment, engagement, and optimism. A magazine should aspire to no less than that.

2. DO IT WITH OTHERS

Collaborate with peers, either as part of your team or as contributors. Create a network of people from different disciplines, contexts and positions. Engage them as much as possible, learn from their disciplines, test each other’s positions to create a comprehensive, informed and forward-thinking outcome.

3. BECOME A PLATFORM

Use the magazine to provide a voice to people who have something meaningful to add to the conversation. The medium is flexible, and should allow for the inclusion of established authors as well as to give a voice to others who, without the platform, would remain mute and removed from the discussion.

4. STAY FRESH

Be alert to new, important and unexpected issues that affect you, the profession and your context. Address it quickly and produce fast but thoughtfully. Capture the energy of the moment, the medium demands it. But also be ready to revisit issues that can be recontextualized and discussed from a new perspective.

5. TELL A STORY

Think critically, enquire and research. There is an excess of information available out there without a story to ground it. A lot of it shallow, simplistic, partial and disconnected. Put forward topics and ideas in a comprehensive and focused way so it can advance the public awareness of the issue.

6. EXPLORE COMMUNICATION

The situations discussed are complex and multilayered. We are now used to either impenetrable and obscure essays that engage a limited audience or a constant bombing of void images without context and story. The combination of different communication techniques (essays, photographs, diagrams, videos just to name a few) and formats will not only allow to communicate efficiently and clearly the complexity of the topic but also engage with a wider audience.

7. REACH FAR

Formats evolve and with them our habits. New mediums and new habits mean challenges but also new opportunities. Test, combine and reinvent old and new mediums in order to evolve and push the boundaries. Think critically about the unique qualities present in each medium to improve the outcome and expand the reach of your network of collaborations and distribution.

8. INSTIGATE THE DEBATE

Each issue of the journal is a chance to address a pressing aspect of our built environment. The combination of formats not only helps to expand the network but also establishes ways in which a fruitful debate can be established. Each issue is a pro-active start of the conversation, not the end of it.

9. LEAVE SEDIMENT

Use multiple formats to create a culture of design in as many locations as possible. Ground your magazine. Establish events, formal or informal, that exploit the potential of a collective gathering and discussion. It will give a new reading to the content of the issue from the online and printed versions and hopefully it will start or continue to define and establish forums of critical thinking.

10. ACT, AND ACT FREQUENTLY

As Mimi Zeiger wrote it in her article for the INFORMATION issue of MAS Context “Forget paper or websites, publishing is a happening, an act, an event to generate content in itself.”

Como vemos, un verdadero manifiesto que puede hacerse extensivo a otros innovadores de las nuevas publicaciones de arquitectura. 

Un entrevista con su fundador Iker Gil puede verse en :

http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/the-exhibitionist.aspx

Por cierto, Iker Gil es arquitecto por la ETSAB !