Filip de Boeck – Of Rhythm And Amalgamation: The Knot As Form Of The Urban

Fig. 1: Showing kata as part of a Shiinji divination basket. Photo by Filip De Boeck

JWTC, April 2014. Drawing on mathematical theories of the Moebius strip, Filip De Boeck unravels the complex weaving and knotting together of forms of sociality and survival in urban Congo. Inhabiting the urban, writes De Boeck, requires strategies of amalgamation that resist being mapped linearly. [The text that follows was part of the panel on ‘The Form of Confusion,’ convened by Jane Guyer, and including work by Moises Lino e Silva, Kabiru Salami, and Soumhya Venkatesan. It was presented at the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism, WISER, 28th of June 2013].

"The number of people living in urban areas will increase ever rapidly. Urbanization – the demographic transition from rural to urban – is associated with shifts from an agriculture-based economy to mass industry, technology and services. For the first time ever, the majority of the world’s population lives in a city, and this proportion continues to grow. A hundred years ago, 2 out of every 10 people lived in an urban area. By 1990, less than 40% of the global population lived in a city, but as of 2010, more than half of all people live in an urban area. By 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will be living in a city, and by 2050, this number will have increased to 7 out of 10 people. Currently, around half of all urban dwellers live in cities with between 100.000 – 500.000 people, and fewer than 10% of urban dwellers live in mega cities (defined by UN HABITAT as a city with a population of more than 10 million)."
– Quote: World Health Organization

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Filip de Boeck – Of Rhythm And Amalgamation: The Knot As Form Of The Urban

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