Technologies and applications such as the automated monitoring of work, networking on platforms, the assistance systems and processes of machine learning are altering our view of technology and society. Conversely, as this changes, so too does the view of the technologies and the designers on us – and indeed greatly. The aim of the conference evening at the 9th of January is to discuss approaches to (in)visibility, technology and architecture. Presentations will be given by Prof. Beatriz Colomina, Prof. Mark Wigley and Prof. Dr. Jan Müggenburg.
09.01.2020, 17.00 Uhr Hochschule Düsseldorf/PBSA
Münsterstraße 156,40476 Düsseldorf Photostudio, Gebäude 6, Raum 6.E.019
Prof. Beatriz Colomina, Princeton University, New Jersey
„X-Ray Architecture“
Beatriz Colomina challenges the normal understanding of modern architecture by proposing that it was shaped by the dominant medical obsession of its time: tuberculosis and its primary diagnostic tool, the X-ray. While the X-ray exposed the inside of the body to the public eye, the modern building unveiled its interior, dramatically inverting the relationship between private and public. Architects presented their buildings as a kind of medical instrument for protecting and enhancing the body and psyche. Beatriz Colomina traces the psychopathologies of twentieth-century architecture and the huge transformations of privacy and publicity instigated by diagnostic tools from X-Rays to MRIs and beyond.
Prof. Mark Wigley, Columbia University, New York
„Buckminster Fuller Inc. Architecture in the Age of Radio“
In his talk Mark Wigley explores Richard Buckminster Fuller’s work and thought, shedding new light on the questions raised by our increasingly electronic world. The talk investigates Fuller’s multi-dimensional reflections on the architecture of radio and his idea that the real site of architecture is the electromagnetic spectrum. The talk rethinks the legacy of one of the key protagonists of the twentieth century – a unique amalgam of theorist, designer and performance artist – and becomes a crucial reference point in trying to understand the development and impact of our electronic environment.
Prof. Dr. Jan Müggenburg, Leuphana University, Lüneburg
„Lively Artifacts“
In the 1960s, researchers at the Biological Computer Laboratory at the University of Illinois managed to stage the “liveliness” of machines as an effect of institutional and research policy contexts. It was about the construction of ›biological computers‹, which were based on models from nature. The result was ›artificial sensory organs‹, ›neural networks‹, ›self-organizing machines‹ and thus the forerunners of today's robots and computer programs in the field of artificial intelligence. While the computer played a role as a model and metaphor in the early stages of cybernetics, machines were actually used in Foerster's laboratory. Jan Müggenburg discloses the cultural, philosophical and political backgrounds of these relationships.
For more information visit www.preinvent.de
Admission free, no registration required
