The second issue of YUCA is inspired by architecture, and places, and the way they constantly give us a spot from which to get a sense of the world that surrounds us. Almost since the beginning of civilization built spaces have surpassed their raison d’etre ––providing shelter–– to respond with astounding sophistication to aesthetic, social, and spiritual purpose. Starting with the simple gesture of drawing a line on a piece of paper the architect masterfully constructs balance between artistic expression and functionality to create places in which we enhance our creativity, strengthen our family ties, learn new ways to appreciate long-known landscapes. These constructions witness our most intimate moments, provide us with the perfect setting for an expression of love, or with the proper conditions to get in touch with the spiritual.
Other than being the setting for our own personal experiences, architecture is the visual shape of society. What can be seen of it with the naked eye: religious temples, prisons, schools, cinemas, museums, housing, government buildings ––they all speak about the principles and values that define the way we live together; and they have done so since the beginnings of civilization.
On vestiges of the past, modern cities are built and rebuilt in response to needs of the contemporary world. So architecture is constantly giving us the opportunity to reshape our societies or even start anew. It is a way to establish and break boundaries, to expand or limit our horizons. And above all, it is what makes our search for a place in the world tangible, what gives us perspective, in the most literal of ways. Architecture gives us stability but also the possibility of movement, of changing the position in which we stand to look at things from a different point of view. To migrate.
That’s when our cross-cutting theme for this issue comes in. Migrations, defined, not only as the seasonal journey animals undertake to survive, or the travels of people from one region of the world to another, but merely as movement in search of new possibilities. A rock that has literally travelled through time and space to engender new beginnings on earth, objects we carry around to bring the sense of home along with us, hectic movement prompted by randomness or by inner search, bringing the surreal into being by representing it. With this issue we want to honor that drive which sets things in motion, because motion is what leads to transformation, which is the nature of life, and of being alive.