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11th Vienna Architecture Congress Intelligent Realities. What to build on in the 21st Century? Location: Architekturzentrum Wien - Podium Congress: 14 November 2003 - 16 November 2003 Opening: Friday 14 November 2003, 6pm Tickets: 1 Day: 9.- Euro / 6.- Euro, 3 Days: 25.- Euro / 15.- Euro "It is generally conceded that a democratic society should not be in the hands of the institutions within it; it must keep an eye on these institutions and control them. How do citizens judge the proposals of the institutions that surround them, the institutions that live from their money and ruin their existences, and how do they judge these institutions for themselves? Such citizens require a yardstick of some kind and criteria. But what kind of yardstick will they choose?" According to Paul Feierabend, "in a free society a citizen uses the standards of the tradition that they belong to", a situation to be seen in a new light in the face of the current situation in Europe. The German theorist Ulrich Beck describes how the inability of the dominant institutions and elites to perceive this new social reality and to shape it productively is linked to the form the institutions take and the history of their development. According to Beck, they originated in a world that adhered to the guiding principles of full employment, the dominance of national state policies for domestic industry, functioning borders, and clear territorial sovereignty and identities. The basis for discussion is a broad one in the search for new standards and criteria that stem from a tradition of modernity, a tradition that is essentially based on progress and growth. The 11th Viennese Architecture Congress is daring to enter a realm disparagingly referred to as 'do-gooding' and addressing the future of architecture before a backdrop of alternative concepts: From the "post-Utopian thinking" recently propounded by Gerhard Schulze in his current book Die Beste Aller Welten (2003, in German; lit. 'The Best Of All Worlds'), to the proven credentials of the Utopian ideal of a participatory economy by the globalisation critic Michael Albert, to urban development by Blockbuster cinema. In the question of the future of architecture the call for Utopias currently dominates the scene. Architects are demanding the construction of a new world, and they are equipped with a large number of new technological possibilities and tools. What are the existing grammatical rules, languages and concepts for "intelligent realities" today, and what strategies are being considered for these? This congress is presenting the first compilation of the disparate splintered but concrete contemporary techniques for future architecture, and reflects these within their social and economic conditions. Can architecture save the planet earth, or even just ensure the survival of mankind? We are standing on the immense plinth of the history of modernity, but what are we building on in the 21st Century? Highly qualified speakers will be taking a stance on the most varied of questions regarding the future of architecture. |
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© Richard Davies |
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11th Vienna Architecture Congress Programme Biographies Information: Ines Purtauf Tel.: +43 (1) 522 31 15 - 25 Fax: +43 (1) 522 31 17 Email: purtauf@azw.at |
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