BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:adamgibbons/ics METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VEVENT UID:28551@offbeat.amsterdam SUMMARY:MYSTERIES OF A COMMUNIST CAVE by Lytle Shaw DTSTAMP:20261013T025235Z DTSTART:20261015T110000Z DESCRIPTION:Gumshoe is a new series of architectural books that introduces an original\napproach to the writing of architectural history. Emulating t he detective novel\,\nthe focus is on actual buildings rather than on spec ulative designs and\ntheories. The style and form is fresh and scholarly b ut also easy and enjoyable\nto read. In Mysteries of a Communist Cave\, th e second book in the Gumshoe\nseries\, Lytle Shaw conducts an investigatio n of Oscar Niemeyer’s building for\nthe French Communist Party’s (PCF) cen tral committee in Paris.\nDesigned in 1965\, just as party theorists began to rethink many bedrock\nassumptions about representation\, Oscar Niemeye r’s PCF building is a microcosm\nof the shifting political and architectur al landscape of the 1960s. It is also a\nliteral Marxist structure that ca n thus help us concretely picture just exactly\nwhat Structuralist Marxism might have been. Shaw draws out the PCF’s language\nand context one eleme nt at a time and puts the elegant curtain-wall building\nwith its cave-lik e assembly hall into revelatory dialogue with interlocutors in\nfilm\, phi losophy\, anthropology\, and politics.\nPerhaps the ultimate mystery of th e communist cave is that its owners have not\nmore often and more powerful ly presented their landmark building as the vivid\nsource of imagery it co uld be for the kind of world the PCF might like to\nconstruct URL:https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/mysteries-of-a-communist-cave-by-lytle- shaw GEO:52.3735679;4.8972388 LOCATION:San Serriffe - Sint Annenstraat 30\, 1012 HE Amsterdam STATUS:CONFIRMED CATEGORIES:amsterdam-centrum,books,film,oude kerk,party X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Gumshoe is a new series of architectural bo oks that introduces an original approach to the writing of architectural h istory. Emulating the detective novel, the focus is on actual buildings ra ther than on speculative designs and theories. The style and form is fresh and scholarly but also easy and enjoyable to read. In Mysteries of a Comm unist Cave, the second book in the Gumshoe series, Lytle Shaw conducts an investigation of Oscar Niemeyer’s building for the French Communist Party’ s (PCF) central committee in Paris.
Designed in 1965, just as party the orists began to rethink many bedrock assumptions about representation, Osc ar Niemeyer’s PCF building is a microcosm of the shifting political and ar chitectural landscape of the 1960s. It is also a literal Marxist structure that can thus help us concretely picture just exactly what Structuralist Marxism might have been. Shaw draws out the PCF’s language and context one element at a time and puts the elegant curtain-wall building with its cav e-like assembly hall into revelatory dialogue with interlocutors in film, philosophy, anthropology, and politics.
Perhaps the ultimate mystery of the communist cave is that its owners have not more often and more powerf ully presented their landmark building as the vivid source of imagery it c ould be for the kind of world the PCF might like to construct

BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:MYSTERIES OF A COMMUNIST CAVE by Lytle Shaw TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR