italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Please find below the invitation to our upcoming colloquium at UCL.
"Critical minds: critical spaces"
8 May 2010, 3pm. University College, Cruciform Building, Lecture Theatre Two, Gower street, London WC1E 6BT. Followed by a wine reception in the UCL Wilkins Building Haldane Room.
This one-day symposium is an occasion to look at the work of architects, planners and designers and its social and cultural relevance in stimulating awareness and criticism of the contemporary. Very often, at the heart of cultural production, there is a practice shaped by a rational or existential response to material, technical or cultural constraints. This practice generates products that are designed as tools to enable the rest of the community to critically understand and question messages, objects and environments, rather than taking them for granted. The colloquium will feature some presentations on current research in design theory and history and on recent design projects. A final panel discussion will follow, introduced by Justin McGuirk, editor of the Icon magazine. The event also marks the closing of Cities Methodologies, an interdisciplinary event on innovative methodologies across the arts and humanities at the Slade Research Centre (Woburn Square, 5-7 May 2010).
Speakers include Mark Cousins (Architectural Association), Annelys de Vet (Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam), James Auger (Royal College of Art), Teresa Stoppani (University of Greenwich), Eyal Weizman (Goldsmiths College), Jonathan Hill (Bartlett School of Architecture).
Free and open to all thanks to the generous support of the UCL Department of Italian, the office of the vice provost's Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction and the Graduate School Research Project Fund.
Booking required (email: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]). For a map please visit http://bit.ly/8ZbJug, for up to date information on the event see http://bit.ly/bV7ks7
Speakers:
James Auger
is a tutor and research fellow within the Interaction Design department at the Royal College of Art collaborating with Philips research. He has previously been a research associate at Media Lab Europe and has worked in Japan for Issey Miyake. Since 2000 he has collaborated with Jimmy Loizeau on several projects aimed at removing the commercial aspect from the designed object and make it a tool for questioning rather than problem solving. Through the development and dissemination of speculative and critical products and services Auger and Loizeau instigate a broader analysis of what it means to exist in a technology rich environment both today and in the near future.
http://www.auger-loizeau.com
Mark Cousins
is director of Histories and Theory at the Architectural Association. He has been Visiting Professor of Architecture at Columbia University and at the Architecture School of the University of Navarre. He has been a member of the Arts Council and consultant to the practice of Zaha Hadid. He has written on the relation of the human sciences and psychoanalysis. His publications include a book on Michel Foucault (with Athar Hussain) and contributions to many journals including Harvard Design Magazine, m/f, October, Economy and Society, and Art History. He is currently working on Odysseus and the history of homecoming.
http://www.londonconsortium.com/about/the-faculty/#mcousins
Annelys de Vet
is a critical graphic designer and head of the design department of the Sandberg Institute Amsterdam. Her work explores the role of design in relation to the public and political discourse. Since 1997 she runs her own studio, which has transformed from a practice working for clients like Droog Design, Thames & Hudson, Stedelijk Museum and KPN, towards a self-directed practice where De Vet, among others, published several books concerning the representation of cultural and national identity.
http://www.annelysdevet.nl
Jonathan Hill
is Professor of Architecture and Visual Theory at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where he is programme director of the MPhil/PhD Architectural Design. His research helped to pioneer the investigation of the relations between architectural objects and the practice and experience of architecture. Hill is the author of The Illegal Architect (1998), Actions of Architecture (2003) and Immaterial Architecture (2006) and the editor of Occupying Architecture (1998), Architecture: the Subject is Matter (2001). He also co-edited Critical Architecture (2007). His work has been exhibited worldwide. His forthcoming authored book is Weather Architecture.
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/research/architecture/profiles/Hill.htm
Justin McGuirk
is the editor of the international magazine Icon. An award-winning journalist and critic, his writings on design culture range from the architecture of Palestinian refugee camps to the design of electric shavers. He is a regular commentator on design issues for the Guardian and other national newspapers and the broadcast media.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/justin-mcguirk
Teresa Stoppani
is Reader in Architecture at the University of Greenwich, where she directs the MSc in Architectural Studies programme and the postgraduate Architecture Theory courses, and visiting lecturer in History and Theory at the Architectural Association, London. Her writings on architecture's histories, theories and representations touch on different disciplines and focus on the relationship between architecture and the city. Her book Paradigm Islands: Manhattan and Venice will be released by Routledge in Autumn 2010.
http://www.gre.ac.uk/schools/arc/contact/staff_directory/dr_teresa_stoppani
Eyal Weizman
is an architect and director of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a member of B'Tselem board of directors and of the Decolonizing Architecture collective. His books include The Lesser Evil, Hollow Land, A Civilian Occupation, the series Territories 1, 2 and 3 and Yellow Rhythms. Weizman is the recipient of the James Stirling Memorial Lecture Prize for 2006-2007 and was chosen to deliver the Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Warwick 2010.
http://roundtable.kein.org/user/3
Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction: www.ucl.ac.uk/intercultural-interaction
Italian and Design at UCL: bit.ly/a2GIk3
UCL Urban Lab: www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/en2
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