DISSIDENCE THROUGH ARCHITECTURE

Conversations about the possibilities of critical spatial practice

In Spring 2013, the Architecture [discussion] Fund will present a series of conversations between architects, urban planners, historians and theorists, reflecting on the possibility to articulate a more contemporary relation between architecture and politics.

Architecture is entangled in a complex force-field in which political, commercial, financial, military, ideological and cultural agents are bustling against each other in ever increased intensities.

Because architecture is so strategically located in the nexus of complex networks of power, it could also, potentially, become the medium through which ideas for resistance, critique, reform or evasion could be articulated and formed.

These conversations will present architectural practices from Moscow, Belgrade, New York, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Kaunas that have, particularly in the state-socialism of the 1980s began to challenge the limits of the profession and to question the relation between the architect and the state, between client and its service provider, between ideology and built form. The conversations will present an intriguing spectrum of possibilities to resist, refuse and reinvent such relationships through architecture.

Cycle of five conversations curated by:
Ines Weizman, Jurga Daubaraite, Jonas Žukauskas

Discussions take place at National Art Gallery (NDG), Konstitucijos av. 22, Vilnius.

Discussions start at 20:00.

Events are free of charge. Discussions are recorded, video records are subtitled in lithuanian/english and uploaded to www.archfondas.lt

The eighth session of Architecture [discussion] Fund presents anthropological approach to architecture and invites to research architecture as a social phenomenon drawing attention to its social background, functioning, and influences. First of all architecture is modeling of the space, and the space is the essential dimension of experience, therefore it is important to understand, what particular physical, sensual, historical or social qualities we are surrounded by, and to figure out, what kind of behavior, movement, feeling and thinking they suggest us. Since Descartes “the space” in Western culture has been understood as an abstract idea, as a tensile void that is to be fulfilled with different physical and social parameters. In reality such kind of abstraction doesn’t exist, as every real space is not detachable from numerous specific features. In recent decades along with criticism of modernist thought arguing against the abstract and universal notion of architecture as form and function, the term “place” became more and more prominent in contemporary space studies. “The place” is a concrete, local, colorful and active space, which restricts or encourages, controls or enables, inspires or oppresses; it can be loud, comforting, joyful or silent.
Interest in the social role of space encouraged social science disciplines to engage in architectural studies. Anthropology of space tries to answer, how one or another place is constructed and why it acts in one way or another. Lecturers invited to this session of discussions approach architectural places from different perspectives, investigating social diversity, geography of crime, children’s mobility, sociability of architecture and imaginative architecture in photography.

Curated by Ūla Tornau and Vita Petrušauskaitė

Though terms MODERN and HERITAGE have cardinally opposite meanings (one takes a powerful step towards the future, while the other  cannot stop mining the past) in today’s society they paradoxically do not form an oxymoron, but friendly co-exist together, and this symbiosis is getting stronger.

Todays it is harder to tell not what the heritage is, but what it is not, as the concept of heritage is menacingly expanding, and not because of surplus of “raw stock”, but because of mass idealization of the past.

“MODERN HERITAGES” aims at discussing contemporary issues of heritage of the modern architecture as well as contemporary practices in the field of our architectural heritage. The discussion will target at the intellectual agenda of the heritage of the modern architecture, socialist modernism, mechanism of heritage materialisation, and conceptualisation and realisation of modern heritage practices.

Curators - Lukas Rekevičius and Marija Dremaitė

The talks are held every Thursday, 8.00 p.m. at the National Art Gallery (NDG), Konstitucijos av. 22, Vilnius. Entrance is free of charge.

How, why, where and what inspires the birth of architecture? 

The process of creating architecture is often forgotten and undervaluated, however, it is the key ingredient in the mix of architecture responding to provocations of NOW. 

Creative process is as diverse as the number of creators: some architects like drafting others prioritize analyzing; there are rationalists and functionalists. None of the paths is the only right one for everyone, and all paths are in some way true to someone. How do the first ideas emerge? Is architecture the result of an author, or compilated synthesis of ideas from the whole team? What is more important – architectural scenario or the looks of architecture? Love the context or f**ck the context? Which method is of higher value  – creative impulse of the moment, or coherent and cold-minded search of the balance? Does the worth lie only in perfect realization? What is the process between the first sketch and the final result and what else it may trigger? 

Meeting our different philosophers of architecture might answer a few questions, but not necessarily so. 

The talks are held every Thursday, 8.00 p.m. at the National Art Gallery (NDG), Konstitucijos av. 22, Vilnius. Entrance is free of charge.

The city is one of the most controversial structures of civilization, an integral part of modern culture, often personalised, adored and demonized. It is constantly changing, thriving or declining, it is surprising or disappointing, and the permanent change keeps it as one of the most popular objects of research.

The city and its physical expression is influenced by many factors: historical circumstances, natural conditions, demographics, financial or political power, even individual personalities. So if we consider the city as the system of those elements, the question arises, how is it changing along with changes of the constituents, with their decline or with the appearance of new ones? What other forces act on the cities, what events of the past have defined their present and what awaits them in the future? When this system reaches equilibrium and stability, what are the breakpoints that may dramatically alter or destroy the previous system? Or maybe the city is an organism where critical changes may cause mutations and malformations?

The talks are held every Thursday, 8.00 p.m. at the National Art Gallery (NDG), Konstitucijos av. 22, Vilnius. Entrance is free of charge.