Centered around the themes of latent knowledges, earth uprisings and borders, this second volume in the Radical Rituals series is the result of a research residency carried by forty five degrees collective in the summer of 2022 across France, from 45°N 1°W to 45°N 7°E.
More just spatial practices are to be found in the diversity and nuances of myriad space-making paradigms that tackle local challenges while providing concrete responses and actions to current global issues. In Radical Rituals, we collect spatial protocols following an imaginary line, the 45°N parallel, across Europe, from the Atlantic Coast to the Black Sea. The practices are named rituals because they strengthen the potential for collective action in order to reach systemic change. They are labeled radical because they are highly transformative and point toward possible futures.
Protagonists: Radio on Wheels, Cantercel Site Expérimental d'Architecture, Viel Audon, Le Collectif La Maison, 3PA association, 23 Anères, Grape-picking Against Land-grabbing, Les communes de Saint-Blaise, La Fabric Pola, Bruit du Frigo, La Ferme des Volonteux, Association La Distillerie, ArtStock, Parc Naturel Marin du Bassin d'Arcachon, Dune du Pilat, To Cross A Border on Foot, La Maraude, Les Terrasses Solidaires, Filature de Chantemerle Longo Maï.
The book comprises essays by forty five degrees, Berta Gutiérrez Casaos, Joanne Pouzenc, Lea Hobson, and a conversation between Elise Misao Hunchuck and Léopold Lambert, with illustrations by Ella Nancy May.
Forty five degrees is a collaborative studio for research and design based in Berlin, committed to the critical making of space. In the studio's practice, space-making is about resources, not only material or financial but the intangible resources of human and non-human knowledge. Forty five degrees's work aims at investigating the built environment through research, design, and artistic experimentation, across multiple scales, analysing its physical, social, and economic entanglements.