Valves are media. They regulate flows and direct elements, while generating differentials between the inside and the outside. Valves are thresholds residing in conduits. This talk investigates how flows in mechanical, organic, and geological veins conflated as the world economy integrated. Situated along pipes and ducts, control valves translate environmental data into physical forces that determine how much fluid or gas can pass. This talk will also examine the history of the comfort zone by highlighting the material condition of its creation and application during the period between 1919 and 1939—a time when the Empires started to decline and corporations rose to take its place.
Jia Weng is an architectural designer, curator, and researcher. She is a Ph.D. candidate in architectural history and theory at Yale School of Architecture, who holds a certificate in Film and Media Studies. Situated at the intersection between architectural history and media studies, her dissertation examines the transformation between information and material forces through the control valve, a fluid-regulating device in architecture. Her research project won the Carter Manny Research Award by the Graham Foundation. It is also supported by Franke Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship, MacMillan International Dissertation Research Fellowship. In her theoretical practice, Jia has partaken in many competitions and exhibitions, including the Jacques Rougerie Competition (First Prize), the Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Infrastructural Territory Exhibition at OCAT Shanghai Gallery.