Introduction

Abstract

The appearance of James Carpenter’s work is serene. It gives the impression, however, that something new will happen amidst its supposed serenity, and that other forces—apart from those already apparent—are about to enter its field. The work produces an inhabited depth, by shifting emphasis away from the visual registers of perception, towards multiple engagements of a subject, her/his spatial constructs, and their resulting environment. Carpenter addresses the object of perception not only by positioning it within cultural and economic contexts, but also by inscribing it into biological and ecological systems. His work challenges a conventional description of its forms, which also implicates the techniques through which architecture organizes the disciplinary controls of that which exceeds its limits.