#8 Place. Anthropology of space
Recovery of Architecture
Why the talk is inspiring?
Architectural discourse for ages has been determined by strong dialectics arguing about what is more important in architecture – object or performance, artistic autonomy or social responsibility, authorship or collaboration, cathedral or bicycle shed… Both ends waged wars of words, demonizing each other for ignoring the essence of architecture. This conflict turns out to be disastrous to the cultural value of architecture. Ole Bouman’s work over the years has been about overcoming the dichotomy. In his speech Bouman will deliver an intellectual autobiography as a way out of this deadlock of the discipline.
2012
Speaker
Ole Bouman
How the speaker is exceptional?
Ole Bouman is the director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, globally the largest institute of its kind. Prior to this appointment he was the editor-in-chief of Volume, the independent magazine for architecture, for pushing its limits and finding new roles in society. Volume is a project by Archis Foundation, think tank AMO and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University. He also was the director of Archis Foundation, active in publishing, consultancy and, as NGO, establishing connections between local design communities in need of expertise and the Archis global knowledge network. Bouman has a track record in writing, curating and teaching in a variety of fields. His publications include the encyclopedic manifesto ‘The Invisible in Architecture’ (co-author, 1994) and ‘The Battle for Time’ (2003, in Dutch). He was one of the curators of Manifesta 3 (2000) and the Archis RSVP event series. He taught or lectured at various schools worldwide. Currently he is also a lecturer at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
RECOMMENDS TO READ
Interview with Giancarlo De Carlo "Architecture is Too Important to Leave to the Architects"
Volume 2005 #2 Doing (Almost nothing)
Why the book is worth reading?
In his conversation with Ole Bouman, Giancarlo De Carlo – an architect and a member of the prominent international group TEAM 10, speaks about the role of architecture, its mission and powers in the current after-modernist society, disillusioned in technocratic perspective. De Carlo discusses social qualities of architecture and questions stylistic and formalist definitions of the discipline. Commenting upon the diverse historiographic architectural references from Vitruvius up to Manfredo Tafuri, Giancarlo de Carlo seeks to define that unspeakable experience of architecture which is able to radically change one’s view to the world.
Ole Bouman. Interview with Giancarlo de Carlo. Architecture is Too Important to Leave to the Architects http://www.roemervantoorn.nl/Resources/De%20Carlo%20Interview.pdf
