From the Greek word 'Protos', implying the first, foremost, or the earliest form of something, both human and non-human, 'proto-' is a prefix fated to invoke gravitas before intent, positioning version-ones as diamond absolutes. Protoplast, for instance, engenders both, the earliest form of life on a cellular level and first humans, the progenitors of mankind. Conversely, it may also signify works in progress, things still forming, finding their shape: prototypes, protostars and even protohumans; blurring absolute origins, and thus a sense of an absolute finality.

Expand time itself, and us fleeting bodies of protoplasm can be seen freefalling between either. Forward canonically infers progress, but often, in times of turmoil, callbacks to the perceived purity, heterogeneity and absolutism of the proto- reign, signalling a regression that is misconstrued as the way forward. When proto- isn't a building block but a reductive, nostalgia-doused harkening to 'pure' and primal forms, what dimensions does progress take?

How much can the proto- shape successive iterations? How can it shape an unknown final outcome? Must it shape any outcome at all? Spurred along authorship, pioneers in growth and the primitivity of medium, this provocation shapes the current dispatch. A review of 'Green Over Gray: Emilio Ambasz' looks at the architect's proto-green legacy. A visit to Exhibit Columbus probes the city's Modernist heritage and its legacy of championing what were once prototypes of modern architecture. In Genoa, Jacopo Benassi's 'Libero!' decries the futility of photography as a singular medium, using punk and cross-medium assemblages for his art.

In moments of conflict, it is said to bear well to return to 'first-principles'. But how meritorious is that idea when origins or proto-forms are contentious? When history is not used as a springboard but a shield, must the unfinished prevail?