Joana Rafael is an architect and researcher working on ecological issues related to pollution and contamination in buildings and territories, with a particular interest in the material conditions of construction and environmental contamination. Her research investigates the materiality and limits of physical infrastructures in relation to Earth systems, as well as human–nature relations mediated by dynamics of human impact, with particular attention to radiological contamination. In parallel, she develops a practice of collaboration with artists, research and writing, as well as consultancy on projects in the fields of architecture, art, and ecology. Joana has taught courses related to Contemporary Culture at institutions including ESAP, ISCE Douro, Central Saint Martins, and the University for the Creative Arts. She is a member of CEGOT and CEAA, and co-founder of REFINERY BOARD. Joana holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Culture from Metropolis, as well as a Master’s in Research Architecture and a PhD in Visual Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London. She also obtained a specialization certificate in Healthier Materials and Sustainable Construction from Parsons School of Design. She is currently completing a Master’s in Visual Arts Education. Alongside her academic work, Joana is a farmer.
Coll()sion
Self-published zine compiling MA thesis research in Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, London.
Titled coll[]sion, the zine focuses on the relation between two, seven days interval, event-accidents that happened one in the deep Sea and other in the Outer Space. Both presented as remarkable misfortunes and constructed as paradigmatic changes opened the door to the recognition of failure and to attempts to overcome (or improve) if not to silence and/or deceive. Positioning schemas of military behaviour, the privilege of relation to space and standards for prevailing techno-scientific developments to be socio-constructed, transformed or (re)invented, this work inquires how are international and relatively free spaces produced and by what means they interconnect forms of governance and/or dispute.
