Infra-Ordinary

Introducing the book, Perec writes:

"Many, if not most, of these things have been described, inventoried, photographed, written about or itemized. My intention in the following pages was to describe what remains; that which we generally don’t notice, which doesn’t call attention to itself, which is of no importance: what happens when nothing happens... See more

​Conclusion

The uncovering of these everyday infraordinary spatial engagements diverted the design process away from superficial form manipulation and the unnecessary burden of a concept driven beginning. By grounding the process of inquiry on the quotidian and the overlooked, familiarity is amplified, questioned, overturned, re-formulated and trans... See more

What would Perec say if he was alive today to see our data-centered world? Numerous companies and agencies – NSA, telecoms, advertizers and marketers, stores, and so on – are capturing detailed data about behaviors of people: phone numbers dialed; ads clicked on the web; Twitter posts; GPS tracks. But their goal is not the science of un-expectional... See more

In his book Species of Spaces and other Pieces, French writer Georges Perec coined the term infraordinary to describe the ordinary and habitual aspects of everyday life (Perec, 1997: 206).

It is fascinating how everyday places that through turmoil, have come to mean something else to those that frequent them.

Peacebuilding tends to focus too much on economic development and too little on addressing the underlying causes that created the violence or meeting the needs of victims/survivors, and those who suffered the most from the violence.

Another important difference from infra-ordinary is the tiny number of images people intentionally share per day.

The metaphor of mining suggests that you recover what is valuable and discard the rest. But what if we reverse the procedure?