| JULY:
ARCHITECTURE ON PAPER
A design industry forum on publishing and architecture This July Architecture+Philosophy looks at architecture publishing from the point of view of the architectural ideas themselves. What can be expressed on paper – in text, in image, in diagram, in drawing – that can't be expressed in construction or the built environment? What decisions are made about what architecture is, or what architectural ideas are, from the perspective of the editor and art director? What contribution does architecture publishing make to design discourses in Melbourne, nationally, internationally? What's possible on paper that's not possible elsewhere? Speakers include
ARCHITECTURE+PHILOSOPHY 2008 PROGRAM Architecture+Philosophy is held one Thursday evening per month, with the possibility of extra Thursday slots in response to demand. Presentations at the BMW Edge, Federation Square start at 6:00pm. Presentations at RMIT's lecture theatre 8.11.68 begin at 6:30pm.
[ top ] FEBRUARY:
QUESTIONS OF SPACE: OF ARCHITECTURE AND PHILOSOPHY This talk will discuss the collaboration between architects and philosophers in writing the book Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground (DAB Documents 2007). The process involved a series of workshops, exchanges and symposia over a period of two and a half years in which the authors explored themes of convergent interest in the disciplines of philosophy and architecture. The talk will consider the productive moments from an architectural perspective. RICHARD BLYTHE is a founding director of the architecture practice Terroir. The work of Terroir has been recognised through exhibition and publication nationally and internationally and their first book Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground was published in August 2007 by DAB Documents, UTS Sydney. Richard is currently serving his second term as Chair of the National Education Committee of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Richard’s academic passion is in exploring research in the medium of design. Prior to taking up his position at RMIT Richard had lectured at the University of Tasmania for 14 years where he served as Deputy Head of the School of Architecture until mid 2007. Richard gained a B.EnvDes and B.Arch from the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology and an M.Arch (research) specializing in Australian architectural history from the University of Melbourne. Richard served one term as President of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand. [ top ] MARCH:
ATMOSPHERE AS A DESIGN STRATEGY OF PARTCIPATION The "Baupiloten" investigate the spatial desires of potential users in terms of atmospheric qualities. Out of the imaginations of such potential users, and out of the visible and invisible spatial moods, they evolve a palpable architecture that triggers communication and acts as a social catalyst. As the starting point for their own design in several Berlin projects the "Baupiloten" used children's architectural ideas: these projects are intended to be on such a scale that would allow them to impact upon the surroundings and help improve the quality of life in disadvantaged districts of Berlin. Architect SUSANNE HOFMANN is Visiting Scholar in the Program of Interior Design, RMIT School of Architecture and Design, and Head of Die Baupiloten - bridging education, practice and research. [ top ] APRIL:
SETS, SERIES and SUITES: COMPOSING THE MULTIPLE ARTWORK Many artists produce compositions consisting of a group of works, where each piece is a separate work as well as a contributor to the composition of the group. Analysis of such compositions from various disciplines, and the complementary invention of creative works by the candidate have been combined to reveal three distinct strategies in such compositions: SETS (where works share explicit criteria); SERIES (where works exhibit a predictable difference) and SUITES (where works provoke complementary differences). In this study, the three strategies are articulated through the following methods and formats: Firstly, each strategy is discussed through an essay which deals with origins and derivations, that strategy’s formal properties and its individual compositional procedures. The essays use examples of multiple works from a wide range of disciplines: literature, printmaking, painting, sculpture, and music. These examples are presented as relatively pure versions of each strategy. Secondly, the properties uncovered in the essays are summarised as a Matrix, which provides a means of both comparing and separating the three strategies. The matrix is intended to apply to all creative disciplines and to be used as both an analytic tool and a creative checklist. Thirdly, a number of well-known architectural works are analysed through the properties outlined in the Matrix. The works range from complex single buildings to groups of buildings. The analyses show how SETS, SERIES and SUITES can be mixed in a multiple composition. Fourthly, three architectural projects by the candidate show how the strategies of SETS, SERIES and SUITES can be applied as a project proceeds, as a planning tool for a multiple work, and as formal control. The projects are presented as individual reports. Fifthly, commentaries on these projects from the point of view of the three strategies are presented as essays; these also include related comments on the nature of architectural design practice. Sixthly, analyses of the SET, SERIES and SUITE characteristics of the candidate’s three architectural projects are presented as matrix charts and Venn diagrams. To widen the discussion, the common strategy of theme and variation is redefined using the principles uncovered in examining the strategy of sets. Related effects of multiplicity such as translation, metaphor and performance are also noted, and to widen the context of compositional activity still further, the perennial problem of the multiplicity and unity of the arts is discussed in the light of the three strategies. The study concludes with observations on the diffuse nature of the methodology, on the potential of the Matrix for both art and non-art situations, and on potential future works. SINCE GRADUATING AS AN ARCHITECT IN 1969, DR ALEX SELENITSCH has taught architectural design, theory and history at Deakin University, RMIT and The University of Melbourne. He currently teaches architectural design. His PhD on narrative descriptions of architecture is in progress. He writes essays and criticism on architectural design, sculpture, painting and literature. His essay 'The Bell Mandala' appears in The Life Work of Guilford Bell, Architect 1912–92. He was the guest editor for the June 1999 issue of Imprint, the journal of the Print Council of Australia, on the theme of artists' books. He also makes and exhibits sculpture and furniture, sometimes in collaboration with Hamish Hill. He is a member of the Public Art Committee of the Melbourne City Council. [ top ] MAY:
TEIMU (THE GARDEN OF DREAMS): AURAL AND AESTHETIC ATTRIBUTES OF
JAPANESE GARDENS AS MODELS FOR SPATIAL ENVIRONMENTS MICHAEL FOWLER is Research Fellow at RMIT SIAL Sound and a performing musician specialising in the electro-acoustic avant-garde. LAWRENCE HARVEY is Director of RMIT SIAL Sound, lecturer, practicing composer and sound designer. Michael and Lawrence will present research to date on the Teimu project, which is being undertaken through an ARC Discovery Grant with RMIT and Melbourne University researchers. To offer a proposal for one of the remaining 2008 presentation opportunities, please email us with your abstract and short bio. [ top ] JUNE 5 AND JUNE 9: TWO SESSIONS 1.
URBAN MATTERS: moving beyond indeterminism vs. determinism The double meaning of "Urban Matters" refers to the relevance of urbanism for architecture and reciprocally to the effect of the materials that comprise the contemporary urban condition (only one of which is architecture) on the city. This talk will focus on the interplay between the urban as a site for architecture and the impact of architecture on those sites. Most urgently, though, cities are faced with issues of a magnitude never before experienced. How can we condsider architecture's ability to effect change when the materials that structure our contemporary cities such as zoning plans, infrastructure, finance, and real estate legislation often escape aesthetic consideration. How can architects direct the various invisible forces which give form to the world around us? The rise of landscape urbanism in the last ten years has provided one means for the architect to be effective through collaboration with landcape architects. Virtually all of these projects remain unbuilt, however, as they are vast in size and scope. Are there other, more immediate ways of operating effectively outside of this model? ASHLEY SCHAFER is co-founder and co-editor of the journal, PRAXIS. Under her direction, the journal has received critical acclaim as well as numerous awards and honors, including an ID award in 2003, and was twice awarded the largest grant in design from the National Endowment for the Arts. A writer, designer,
and practicing architect, Schafer has lectured and been published
internationally. Schafer currently is associate professor, head
of Architecture, and director of the Master of Architectural Studies
in Criticism program at the Ohio State University Knowlton School
of Architecture. She previously held an appointment as associate
professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and at
Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. 2.
MAKING TIME: Design and the Materialisation of Ethics in the Age
of Unsettlement In the emergent epoch much has to change by design. The aim of this presentation is to explore how it is possible to make sense of this plural moment and then how ‘futuring actions’ can be viewed, and constituted as, ‘ethical things’ able to ‘make time.’ A number of the key implications of the perspective adopted will be outlined for architectural practice. TONY FRY is a designer, design theorist, cultural theorist and educator. He is a director of sustainability consultancy Team D/E/S, Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art, an independent scholar and a contributing editor of the e-journal Design Philosophy Papers and the e-zine Design Philosophy Politics. He is also a farm forester who lives at and works from his and his partner’s farm at Ravensbourne, in the ranges of South East Queensland. [ top ]
AUGUST Transience, art and China are drawn together in an inquiry into contemporary urban consciousness. New urban concepts have emerged from the everyday experience of the first Urban Century that cross current cultural boundaries and question ruling paradigms. By focusing on two urban phenomena that have specific presence in contemporary art – the proliferation of Biennales and the China Phenomenon – this presentation investigates altering dimensions of cultural scale and cultural fakeness. These, it is claimed, challenge established definitions of place-specific-belonging and frame a new urban state of mind: urbaness. MAGGIE McCORMICK is currently undertaking a PhD at the Faculty of Architecture, The University of Melbourne, Australia, following on from an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) at RMIT University. Text and image are integrated in her research. McCormick is an artist and independent curator who has exhibited and curated projects in Australia, Europe and Asia and lectures in Art in Public Space, the School of Art, RMIT University, Melbourne. In 2006 she undertook a Red Gate Gallery art residency and exhibited in the 798 Art District, Beijing P.R. China as part of her research. Other research exhibitions were held at Palais Porcia, Vienna 2006 and Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne 2007. Other recent exhibitions of her artwork include 'Wandering Between the Worlds – 10 Artists Between Austria and Australia', Kunstlerhaus, Vienna 2005, 'Siemens Fine Art Scholarships' selected exhibition (shortlisted), RMIT Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne 2004 and 'Nu Horizons – Australian Women Artists in China', Hangzou Academy of Fine Art and Donghua University Shanghai, 2002. Recent curatorial work includes 'Global Fusion Close Up' 2005/2006 staged in Melbourne and Vienna incorporating twenty pairs of artists from across the world and 'melbourneconnectionasia' 2003/2004, linking eight cities and forty artists in the Asian region. A Curriculum
Vitae and curatorial projects can be viewed on line: [ top ] 2007 PROGRAM – 2006 PROGRAM – 2005 PROGRAM – ABOUT THE CURATORS |
2007 PROGRAM – 2006 PROGRAM – 2005 PROGRAM Architecture + Philosophy provides a unique opportunity for a space of exchange between the two disciplines. While what we provide is a local space – Melbourne practitioners on Melbourne issues – the Architecture and Philosophy series welcomes speakers from any discipline to engage with questions of contemporary urbanism, planning, technology, space, system, design, distribution and other issues in the productive overlap between the two disciplines. We curate a diverse range of presentations, from research students and established academics to architecture and planning practitioners, policy makers, public artists and those working in the world between theory, buildings and the city. For all enquiries, contact the curators: Esther Anatolitis and Dr Hélène Frichot. New to the series as guest curator in 2008 is Chelle Macnaughtan. about the curators |
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