Habitus Magazine | Issue 5

Not all that long ago I used to lecture in linguistics at the University of Sydney. In fact, it was something of a passion – I even had linguistics books as bedtime reading. I became interested in using linguistic models to help understand art and literature and eventually wrote a dissertation on the topic.

I reached the conclusion that, while art, design and architecture were like a language, they were not actually languages. In the areas of architecture and design, however, it is still fashionable in some circles to describe them as languages. Those who do so invariably know nothing about linguistics or even language, except in the intuitive way that everyone understands their own language.

But the topic remains interesting (the smarty-pants among you will recognise the Chomskyan use of ‘interesting’). A language is really the product of a never-ending conversation between native-speakers. It is in a constant state of evolution and it is passed on to successive generations through conversation. It is how children learn to speak, for example.

This magazine is part of that conversation – a conversation between the magazine’s content and its readers. And as in other conversations, what it ‘means’ is a result of the negotiation between reader and content.

As editor, my ambition is to create a style which presents the architecture, design and personalities in the magazine as a conversation. I would like to think our contributing writers and photographers are offering glimpses into their own conversations with their subjects. This is one reason why we use film terminology; by referring to the various ways in which film communicates, we are encouraging you, our readers, to see the Habitus mission as about communication, conversation and dialogue.

In this issue, for example, we meet Dr Gene Sherman who has moved beyond simply running an art gallery to focussing on art as an on-going conversation – in particular, a cross-regional dialogue – while Brian Sherman has extended beyond the corporate world to promoting a discussion about animal rights. Megan Hess’s business is communication, Nathan Yong’s furniture responds to people’s needs, William Lim has devoted his entire career to generating dialogue about the built environment, while the Peter Stutchbury feature reveals a dialogue between two houses.

I could go on, but that would leave me without space to wish ourselves Happy Birthday! Habitus is one year old and for the support we have received from you, our readers, and from all the advertisers who help make the whole thing possible, let me say thank you from all of us here at Indesign. Let’s keep talking!

PAUL MCGILLICK | EDITOR