The "recent" economical crisis has led to a full-fledged
political and social crisis. In Europe new antagonisms and
struggles are developing over the defense of the welfare state and
the programmatic exclusion of large groups of people from economic
activity and political participation, and fears of an ecological
disaster that awaits us has turned into a realistic projection.
With the collapse of the banking system we stand at the
beginning of a return to full-blown history. A return to history
that has not only led to a renewed interest in radical ideas and
politics developed in the past, but also marks a beginning in
search of new forms of sociality (including developing a new kind
of cartography possible of mapping the many arisen controversies).
To also rethink the social within architecture is thus an issue of
outmost urgency.
The symposium Rethinking the Social in Architecture is
structured around three topics:
• The Welfare State and Beyond are exploring where we are, where
we have been and what is becoming. What is the role of the state,
the private, the public, and the commons?
• Towards New Subjectivities are exploring transformative
agencies; the individual, the body, the collective, the fictional,
the real. Spatial identities, across or against, differentiating
markers like gender, race, ability, economy, location, will be
investigated.
• The Politics of Things are exploring the politics of the
object and its content, as well as relational thinking - how the
object knits, directs, actualizes and enacts the political. How
might form become capable of thinking?
Over the three days the invited keynote lecturers - Dana
Cuff, Sven-Olov
Wallenstein, Anne
Lacaton, Constantin
Petcou, Doina
Petrescu, and Michelle
Provoost - will reflect on and discuss
these questions together with researchers from Architecture in
Effect, ResArc, and beyond, that in thirty-five papers will present
the results from their current research projects. In addition to
this among our international guests are Tahl
Kaminer, Hilde Heynen,
and Jane Rendell who
will be joining and present their views on the importance of
addressing the social in architecture.
The symposium Rethinking the Social in Architecture is arranged
by Architecture in Effect, a strong research environment in
Architecture Theory and Methodology funded by The Swedish Research
Council Formas.
www.architectureineffect.se
The photograph captures the other side of the glossy image
production of the "new" sustainble urban landscape: namely
increased gentrification and displacement from the central city,
Kvillebäcken, Gotherburg. Copyright Catharina Thörn, 2011.
