On Authorship, Responsibility and Continuity
6850 #1

"... Authenticity is predicated on a position that is open to discussion, interrogation or refinement. Authorship, therefore, brings clarity that can be understood, not only accepted or confirmed, but also criticised. Discussions that reduce authorship to authority and propose replacing it with collective working tend to ignore the danger of ambiguity. In disciplines such as architecture, distinguished by its historical and cultural continuity, such ambiguity is particularly counterproductive. In the contemporary neoliberal epoch, distinguished by its rapid communication and information exchange, ambiguity assumes a particularly pervasive form. This phenomenon often leads to equivocation and a lack of direction in (any) discourse. In order to avoid this, the responsibility inherent in authorship must be restored in the cultural field. While the author's argument is grounded in the discipline of literature, the insights gained from Foucault's observations on this responsibility and mechanism can be integrated into the broader discourse on authorship, extending beyond the realm of architecture to include all disciplines involved in the production of culture:

Finally, the author's name characterises a particular manner of existence of discourse. Discourse that possesses an author's name is not to be immediately consumed and forgotten; neither is it accorded the momentary attention given to ordinary, fleeting words. Rather, its status and its manner of reception are regulated by the culture in which it circulates."