(RE)Orientations Spring 2014
Architecture and Feminisms. Ecologies of Practice and Alternative Economies. AHRA (Architectural Humanities Research Association) 2016.
This pre-emptive research event proposes to gather some preliminary thoughts toward the ongoing planning of the international AHRA conference to be held in 2016 at KTHA Stockholm. AHRA 2016 will address architecture and feminisms through explorations of ecologies of practice and alternative economies at work in architecture, urban planning, and the spatial disciplines. Our small symposium will be hosted in the context of the KTHA (Re)Orientations course, which is an intensive 2 week workshop delivered to over 100 advanced level (years 4-5) architecture students. With this meeting we seek to further develop the outlines of our proposal for the AHRA 2016 conference event by discussing our relevant research.
We situate the research themes of Architecture and Feminisms: Ecologies of Practice and Alternative Economies amidst what has come to be known as the Anthropocene, a disputed term that calls for the recognition of the formation of a geologic age in which global environmental conditions have been radically altered by accelerating processes of human driven industrialization. Architecture has fully participated in these processes, and we propose that an exploration of feminist, critical, and radical methodologies and epistemologies in architecture – especially in light of the rise of practice-based research – might enable us to shift the values and habits that produce our over-pressured existential territories.
Amidst what can be deemed a generalized, world-wide exhaustion of our material resources, relations, and environments, we will invite researchers and practitioners to explore how feminist and critical concepts and design tools might offer radical and experimental approaches to creating more sustainable and resilient mental, social and environmental ecologies. We plan to use the AHRA conference event in 2016 to exchange and collectivise current research on critical, radical and feminist approaches to architecture that can be applied by all to the relay between architectural discourse and practice. We do not intend to create exclusionary places and practices, but to experiment with ways of ethically coping in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and contested. We call for a thoroughgoing reengagement in histories and futures of feminist critical and radical practices toward reimagining our contested and precarious world. We invite participants to draw inspiration from their feminist and radically engaged precursors, existing, and reimagined, whose diverse projects, manifestos, and concepts can be reinvented in opposition to arguments that declare the approach of the end-times.
AHRA Schedule
9.30 Introduction
10.00-12.00 Conversation: Who’s Afraid of Critical Practice? How to activate your radical-feminist practices in art-architecture, urban curation and environmental activism:
- Liza Fior, architect, muf architecture/art, London UK
- Elke Krasny, Curator and Cultural Theorist, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna Austria
- Jane da Mosto, environmental scientist and activist, co-founder of We are Here Venice, Venice Italy
Hosted by Helen Runting
12.00-13.00 Lunch
Three Intertwined Research Themes:
13.00-14.15
1. Alternative Economies:
- Katie Lloyd Thomas, Guest Lecturer, Newcastle UK (30 Minutes)
- Catharina Gabrielsson, Urban Theory, KTH (15 minutes)
- Karin Bradley, Division of Urban and Regional Planning, KTH (15 minutes)
- Helena Mattsson, Architecture Theory and History, KTH (15 minutes)
- Discussion
14.30- 16.00
2. Ecologies of Practice:
- Peg Rawes, Guest Lecturer, Bartlett UCL, UK (30 minutes)
- Hélène Frichot, Critical Studies, KTH (15 minutes)
- Meike Schalk, Critical Studies and Urban Theory, KTH (15 Minutes)
- Ramia Maze, Interactive Institute and Urban Planning and Design KTH (15 Minutes)
- Discussion
16.15-17.45
3. Architecture and Feminisms:
- MYCKET (Katarina Bonnevier, Thérèse Kristiansson and Mariana Alvès) (30 Minutes)
- Brady Burroughs, Critical Studies, KTH (15 Minutes)
- Katja Grillner, Critical Studies, KTH (15 Minutes)
- Discussion
17.45-18.00 Conclusion
More Events
- ARCHITECTURE & FEMINISMS ecologies, economies, technologies
(November 17 - 19, 2016) - On Theory and Method 2: Architects in Formation
(February 5-6, 2015) - On Theory and Method 3: Critical Projections
(April 12-13, 2015) - On Theory and Method 4: Material Conditions
(April 23-24, 2015) - On Theory and Method 1: Critical Historiography
(December 8-9, 2014) - Architecture in Effect research members at 2014 AHRA conference
(November 13-16, 2014) - Architecture in Effect research members at BTH conference Planning for Sustainable Urban Form
(November 12-14, 2014) - (RE)Orientations Spring 2014
(January 27 2014) - Seminar on Deleuze and Architecture
(5/11 2013 (1 PM - 4 PM)) - Dissertation event: Jan Hietala
(16/5 2013) - Methodology Seminar
(2/5 2013) - Architecture's Red Tape, Midway Seminar of Erik Sigge
(April 24, 2013) - Open House, One-Year Seminar of Brady Burroughs
(27/3 2013) - Rethinking the Social in Architecture
(6-8/2 2013) - Kenneth Frampton, "The Legacy of Alvar Aalto"
(3/12 2012) - New Beauty Council at Gallery Index
(23/10 2012) - Mid-Way Project Seminar
(11-12/10 2012) - The Gothenburg Midterm Seminars
(11-12/10 2012) - Architecture-Writing
(24-25/5 2012) - Creative Writing Workshop
(23-24/5 2012) - SRE Effect Seminar
(9/2 2012) - Stockholm Starting Seminars
(17-18/11 2011) - Yvonne P. Doderer: "Right to the City"
(16/11 2011)
News
2016.04.15Call for abstracts - Deadline April 15: Architecture & Feminisms
2015.01.14Architecture in Effect organizes workshops On Theory and Method
2014.12.02Architecture in Effect organizes seminar on Theory and Method at KTH Dec 8-9, 2014
2014.01.27(RE)Orientations
Architecture in Effect at 2014 AHRA conference in Newcastle