Telesis, GCA’s award-winning student journal, will release its second edition this May. The second edition, titled Metamedia, focuses on identifying instances where architecture might transcend its usual format, and become a new type of cultural or social phenomenon.
In a recent interview with Telesis instructor Evan Sack and last year’s student editor Emily Hays, Sack explained that their understanding of “metamedia” comes from a 2009 paper titled “Opening the Metaverse” by Julian and Marilyn Lombardi, which explains the term as “…socially enabled extension… which has degrees of freedom for representation and expression never before encountered and as yet barely investigated.”
“It’s a really interesting topic, especially because I’m having trouble separating it from the pandemic that we’re dealing with because it has such widespread implications for technology and its integration or collision with architecture is really similar,” said Hays, “I think it will be shaped tremendously by what we are seeing right now. Something that has been on my mind with how COVID-19 relates to the realm of architecture is how the virus will begin to affect our view of third spaces.”
Image credit: Evan Sack and Ryan Godfrey
Through both graphic and written works submitted by GCA students, the journal seeks to challenge readers to think about the future of architecture through the lens of metamedia. In doing so, Metamedia explores how the format in which we present information – in this case, the physical form that architecture takes – has an impact on people’s ability to use it as a platform for social interaction or change.
Some topics explored in the journal are the intersection of literature and architectural design and how the color black has influenced architects’ sense of social responsibility. As a whole, Telesis seeks to give a voice to Gibbs College students, allowing them to grow both individually and as a community to raise the rigor of discourse within the college.
“In my experience with Telesis so far, I’ve obviously learned a lot about Adobe products like Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, but I’ve also learned how to work on a long-term team project,” said Telesis student editor Ryan Godfrey, a second-year architecture student. “In studio, we work on long-term projects, and in other classes group projects, but never school-year long group projects like an actual architecture firm would, so it’s been interesting learning how to do that.”
Image credit: Evan Sack and Ryan Godfrey
The first edition of Telesis, published last year, earned national recognition. It was awarded the 2019 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals, which is an award founded to encourage student journalism on architecture, planning, and related subjects, and to foster regard for intelligent criticism among future professionals.
“I’ve become very invested in the journal, not only for the competition or because I’ve made a commitment,” said Godfrey, “but also because I feel like I’m being ‘heard,’ which is cool for a second-year student.”
If you are interested in creating the third edition of Telesis, you can enroll in the class (ARCH 4970/5970) for Fall 2020, which will take place on Wednesdays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For more information on the class you can contact faculty advisor Angela Person (a@ou.edu), course instructor Evan Sack (evan.sack@ou.edu), or student editor Ryan Godfrey (jryangodfrey@ou.edu).
Header image credit: Evan Sack and Ryan Godfrey