Call for Book Proposals: Architecture of Alterity

We are seeking book proposals from educated minds and critical thinkers in the field of architecture, philosophy, and related fields addressing the question:

What is an architecture of alterity?

AoA Series Brief:

In architecture as well as in the pursuit of knowledge, a true Idea does not always unite, it oftentimes separates.  This new book series will promote the ontology of spatial relationships, where an unavowable community, political agency and social interaction supplement each other. Such ontology, which brings necessary clarity and a sense of orientation, does not take place in an empty space, but a pervasive, and multifaceted Third space. The point of reference that sustains it is the unique encounter between philosophy, politics, and place. In an expanded essay-type format, these short books engage new ways of revealing and concealing an often-hidden issue concerning an overlapping aspect of the oneness of the other and the object over the philosophical explanatory power of alterity. The aim of the series is to ask the question: “What is an architecture of alterity?”

 This series employs phenomenology and semiotics to argue that architecture is strongly influenced by the construction of the self. How does the notion of the other—as person, experience or alternative conceptual scheme—allow us to reassess the idea of the self in architecture? From within this horizon, the short books in the series will deal not only with psychoanalytical philosophy, but also will intervene at the levels of critical, cultural, political and urban theory. The agility of AoA’s format permits the series to take the pulse of what we believe to be interconnected fields, as well as address and further develop current issues, and turn these issues outward to an informed, interested public.

The book series will launch in 2019. For initial inquiries, please submit your proposal for the AoA series directly to Liz Martin-Malikian: architectureofalterity@gmail.com, or lizmartinusa@gmail.com

 

 

 

Programme

Monday             25th May 2015                                                                                      

Venue:               Minto House: LR1, ESALA, 20-22 Chambers Street           

12:00-13:00         Sign-in / Registration

13:00-13:15        Opening Remarks: Dorian Wiszniewski, PhD

13:15-14:45        Session 1: Space of Communicatively

Doreen Massey’s Spaces of Multiplicity _Richard Bower, PhD, Plymouth University [UK]

Alterity and the Ideal: Within and Beyond Form in Art and Architecture_Brian Gassom, PhD, Gray School of Art, Robert Gordon University [UK]

What is Educational Space?_Emile Bojesen, PhD, University of Winchester [UK]

 14:45-15:00        Coffee Break

 15:00-16:30        AoA Research Workshop I                                               

The Time of Light: Utopian Photo-conceptualism in the Work of Gordon Matta-Clark_Anthony Abiragi, PhD, University of Colorado [USA]

Performative Architectures: How to Sing in Public_Helen Statford, University of Sheffield [UK]

The Piratical Stance: the possibility for a piratical stance_Valeria Federighi, Politecnico Torino, Italy [EU]

16:45-17:30         Session 2: Conceptualizing Counter-Hegemonic Sites, Practices & Narratives

Utopia as Method: The Unlikely Prospect of a Counter-Hegemonic Architecture_Nathaniel Coleman, PhD, University of Newcastle, [UK]

Beyond Dualism: non-instrumental architecture_Malcolm Miles, PhD, Plymouth University [UK]

Urbanism of Alterity: a topological analysis_Luz Navarro-Eslava, WSA, Cardiff University [UK]

18:00-19:30          AoA Casual Prix Fixe Dinner, £20, plus a small booking [optional]

19:30-21:00          Keynote_Simon Critchley: Memory Theatre                                                              

Special Venue:    Scottish Storytelling Centre, The Netherbow Theatre

Tuesday               26th May 2015                                                                                  

Venue:                  Minto House: LR1, ESALA, 20-22 Chambers Street

9:00-10:00            Keynote_Dorian Wiszniewski: Architecture: Alterity of An Ethics of Visuality

10:15-11:50           Session 3: Unveiling the Political: Process, Identity and Alterity

ALT-Spaces: On Textures of Spatial Alterity_Thomas Mical, PhD, University of South Australia [AU]

Socio-spatial Identity and Conflict in Contemporary Brussels_Katherine Prater, University of Cambridge [UK]

Hedonistic Urbanism as the Alterity of Postwar Beirut_Liz Martin-Malikian, University of Edinburgh [UK]

Bodies and the Ethno[flow]: Transnational Migrations of commodified flesh_Armando Montilla, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona [EU]

12:00-13:00            Lunch Break 13:15-15:00           

AoA Research Workshop II    

Self-organized Architecture and the Superhistorical City_Clara Archibugi and Clemens Nocker, Sapienza University of Rome [EU]

Folkcodes and the Urban Legendary: Michael Sorkin, the Congress for New Urbanism and American Alterity in the 1990s_Andrew Santa Lucia, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago [USA]

Exploring Habitability: Skateboarding As ‘Rogue Architecture’_Tiphaine Kazi-Tani, Research Associate, CoDesign Lab, Telecom ParisTech [France]

Beyond Building Objects: Social Transformative Potential of Hybrid Architectural Intervention_Xiang Ren, University of Sheffield [UK]  

15:30-17:00            Keynote_Michael Jenson: Mapping the Global Architecture of Alterity

Special Venue:     Anatomical Lecture Theatre, Door 3 Medical School, Teviot Pl

17:30-19:00            Session 4: Global Architect of Alterity                                                                        

Back-to-Session/Research Worskhop Venue: Minto House: LR1

Finding Self in the Other: Japanese-ness in western architecture_by Bob Brown,  Plymouth University [UK]

“We don’t want a multi-cultural minaret, we want an Islamic minaret”, negotiating the past in the production of contemporary Muslim architecture in Britain_by Shahed Salem, RIBA, University of Westminster [UK]

Aldo Rossi’s Analogical City: Multitude and the Soul of the City_Cameron McEwan, PhD, University of Dundee [UK]

dinner on your own

Wednesday             27th May 2015                                                                                   

Venue:                     Minto House: LR1, ESALA, 20-22 Chamber Street                       

9:00-10:45               AoA Research Workshop 3

Shared Architecture, Social Practice and Intergroup-mixing on Belfast_Clare Mullholland, Queen’s University Belfast [UK]

Chinese Formal and Informal Urbanism: Socio-Spatial Practices of Alterity in Urban Villages_Litao Zhou and Dr. Tatjana Schneider, University of Sheffield, [UK]

The Small Public: Sites, Subjectivities and Scales of Alterity_Sze Y. Goh, Goldsmiths, University of London [UK]

Ephemeral Urban Cultures: the night markets of Taiwan_Justin Chung, Plymouth University [UK]

11:00-12:30            Session 5: Conceptualizing Counter-Hegemonic Sites, Practices & Narratives

Azadi Square: Deciphering ecological systems / frameworks + sites of morphing_Sundas Shadid and Javaria Shadid, Illinois Institute of Technology [USA]

Remediating the social through protest architecture: tAIt and St Peter’s square in Rome_Fabrizio Gesuelli, University of Edinburgh [UK]

The Self-othering event of object qualities and architecture as a mutable interface._Trevor Patt, Ecole Polytech Lausanne, Paris [EU]

12:30-13:00            Coffee Break

13:00-14:00            Closing Lecture: Mark Dorrian_What’s Interesting?  

14:10-14:30             Closing Remarks

Registration

University of Edinburgh | May 25-27, 2015

 All are welcome to attend both the 2-1/2 day symposium and keynote lectures. Entry to all presentations are free, but must be booked in advance via Eventbrite 

AoA dinner has a cost associated with it and includes an informal buffet wit whine & beer as well as a light lunch. All talks are FREE, but book to guarantee a seat.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/architecture-of-alterity-symposium-university-of-edinburgh-tickets-16766361639

Registration OPEN until on Wednesday May 20th

Peer Review Committee

All submitted abstract proposals were reviewed anonymously by a minimum of three scholars,  ranked for strength of content for developing into a full paper within a 2-month timeframe, and appropriateness for symposium theme. We received a large submission with an acceptance rate of 16% for both Thematic Sessions and Research Workshops.  The peer-review committee consisted of:

Marc Schoonderbeek [UT Delft/EU]

Mark Wasiuta [Columbia University/US] 

Edward Mitchell [Yale University/US] 

Chad Elias [University of York/UK]

Ross Birrell  [Glasgow School of Art/UK]

Charlie Malikian [independent scholar/US]

Richard Becherer [independent scholar/US]

Paolo Cardulla [UCL, Goldsmiths / UK]

Pegah Zamani [Kennesaw State University /US]

John Nagle [Aberdeen/UK]

Adrienne Janus [Aberdeen/UK]

Franca Trubano [University of Pennsylvania/US]

Hazem Ziada [University of Birmingham/UK]

Ermal Shpuza [Emory University/US]

Mari Fujita [University of British Columbia/Canada]

Colin Ripley [Ryerson/Canada]

Marc J. Neveu [Woodbury University/US]

Tony Rizzuto [Kennesaw State University/US]

William Carpenter [Kennesaw State University/US]

Pari Riahi [Rhode Island School of Design/US]

Armando Montilla [Clemson University/US]

Tolulope Onabolu [University of Edinburgh/UK]

Miguel Parades Maldonado [University of Edinburgh/UK]

The AoA Symposium is organized and coordinated by Liz Martin-Malikian

Information

Registration: Registration for the event is free, but places are limited. All those who are interested in attending there will be an Eventbrite available to the public in 25th April. Spaces will be confirmed via email.

Travel: University of Edinburgh is located in the city centre, about 10-minute walk from the main railway station (Edinburgh Waverley) and the final stop of the 100 Airlink shuttle bus (Waverley Bridge stop; £3.50 single, £6 open return). Getting from the main airport, Edinburgh International, takes about 30 minutes by the shuttle bus or 20 minutes by taxi (approx. £25 fare). Once in Edinburgh, the city can be easily negotiated on foot, but should you need public transport Lothian Busesoffer local travel with tickets at £1.50 per journey (any distance) and £3.50 for unlimited journeys in one day. Tickets are purchased from the driver, no change is given and all stops are on request.

Accommodation: Edinburgh offers a variety of centrally located accommodation, from budget hostels to hotels. Affordable hotel chains close to the University include Premier Inn at Lauriston Place, Ten Hill Place Hotel at 10 Hill Place,  Salisbury Green at Holyrood Park Road, and Travelodge at St Mary Street. There are also a variety of affordable guesthouses in neighborhoods: Newtington, Leigh and New Town that are within 15-minute walk or easy bus routes. [hotels.com currently offering the best deals]

Below are links to websites that list a number of different types of accommodation depending on your budget and preference: Hostel, Bed & Breakfast, Hotel or Apartment. Modest luxury_Fraser Suites: use code: AOA15

On a budget_Smart City Hostels Edinburgh: 50 Blackfriars Street–just off the Royal Mile (about 5-10 minutes walking from the venue), or  Castle Rock Hostel: 15 Johnston Terrace (5-10 minute  walk to the venue)

Restaurants, Cafes, Pubs and other Places to Eat: – Elephant House (of J.K. Rowling fame): 21 George IV Bridge- Caffe Lucano: 37-39 George IV Bridge- Spoon Cafe and Restaurant: 6A Nicolson Street – Kilimanjaro Cafe: 104 Nicholson Street – Bobby’s Bar (of Greyfriar’s Bobby fame): 30-34 Candlemaker Row – Mosque Kitchen: 33 Nicolson Street – Mums Great Comfort Food: 4A Forrest Road – Namaste Kathmandu: 17-19 Forrest Road – Vittoria on the Bridge: 19 George IV Bridge – The Outsider: 15/16 George IV Bridge – Hanedan Restaurant: 41 West Preston Street – A number of pubs can also be found in the Grassmarket and on the Royal Mile.

Things to Do and Places to Visit: – National Museum of Scotland – National Gallery of Scotland – Edinburgh Castle – Scottish Parliament – Holyrood Palace – Arthur’s Seat – St Giles Cathedral – Greyfriar’s Bobby

For further information feel free to contact us at:  architectureofalterity@gmail.com

AoA_Keynote Speakers

AoA_ University of Edinburgh

Monday 25th May 2015

Keynote Speaker:  Simon Crichtley, PhD  will lecture on ‘Memory Theatre‘

A piece of experimental fiction by Critchley published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in London. Jonathan Lethem writes about Critchley’s book, “Simon Critchley is a figure of quite startling brilliance, and I can never begin to guess what he’ll do next, only that it is sure to sustain and nourish my appetite for his voice. His overall project may be that of returning philosophical inquiry, and “theory”, to a home in literature, yet without surrendering any of its incisive power, or ethical urgency.” Memory Theatre was picked by the London Review of Books Bookshop as one of their six books of the year for 2014. Memory Theatre photographs by Liam Gillick .

Simon Critchley is Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. His previous books include On Humour, The Book of Dead Philosophers, How to Stop Living and Start Worrying, Impossible Objects, The Mattering of Matter (with Tom McCarthy), The Faith of the Faithless, Stay, Illusion!: The Hamlet Doctrine (with Jamieson Webster), and Bowie. He is series moderator of ‘The Stone‘, a philosophy column in The New York Times, to which he is a frequent contributor. Liam Gillick is a British artist based in New York. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2002, represented Germany for the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, and has taught at Columbia University since 1997. Public collections include: Government Art Collection, UK; Arts Council, UK; Tate, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Tuesday 26th May 2015

Keynote Speaker: Michael K. Jenson, PhD will lecture on ‘Mapping the Global Architect of Alterity’

  

Due to globalization, cultural spaces are now developing with no tangible connection to geographical place. The territorial logic traditionally used to underpin architecture and envision our built environment is being radically altered, forcing the adoption of a new method of conceptualizing space/geography and what constitutes architectural practice. Construction techniques, design sensibilities, and cultural identities are being transformed as technology transports us to places that were previously unreachable. The resultant “globalized” architect must become more than just an artful visionary, but also a master of the art of the political nudge willing to act within multiple mediums and at the simultaneous scales of a chaotic new world disorder. Though fearless they must also be responsible, inherently understanding the necessity to align bold visions with the mundane details of the everyday in ways that are culturally flexible and accepting of change. The potential for what must be considered the legitimate practice of the architect must move from a purely material venue to one more directly engaged in the chaos of the larger economic, political, and social spheres of a globalizing world.

Michael K. Jenson is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Current Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado, Denver. He has practiced in Dallas, New York, Paris, and Denver and has worked on urban design/architecture projects in China, France, Germany, and the USA. Jenson’s research and teaching focus on the process of design and the cultivation of an “openness” towards the potential of unexpected outcomes as globalization leads us into unfamiliar territory. In short, his work seeks to explore the bridge between our increasing cultural interdependence and the rationalistic manipulation of our environments through the lens of the architectural endeavor in the process of globalization. His previous publications include: The Global Nomad: Navigating Mediated Space at a Global Scale in global media, culture, and identity; Process, Representation, and Architectural Agency in an Age of Complexity and Change; Power, Utopia, and the Manipulation of The Historical Consciousness: Perspectives from Collingwood; and A Globalized Studio Environment.

Keynote Speaker: Dorian Wiszniewski, PhD  will lecture on ‘Architecture: Alterity as An Ethics of Visuality’

Hagi Kenaan[1] provides an analysis of Emmanual Levinas’ recurrent statement that “ethics is an optics.” Wiszniewski reworks Levinas and Kenaan on Levinas’s philosophy on the human face through architectural concepts of plan, section, elevation, face, frontality, façade and mask.  However, rather than simply providing a series of metaphors [that may or may not enrich either a reductive or conventional understanding of architectural aesthetics],  Wiszniewski proposes that the procedures of thinking these architectural concepts are irretrievably changed, altered, by deconstructing their conventional analytical position and then reconstructing them, through Levinas’ concepts of alterity, autrui, illeity and dis-inter-estment, as means by which we can elaborate architecture as situations for phenomenological politically active encounters.

Dorian Wiszniewski, PhD, is Director of the PhD by Design programme  & Senior Lecturer in Architectural Design, Theory and Criticism at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, UK. His research interests are architectural-political-philosophical overlaps on issues of architectural design, representation and production, in particular how this impacts theories and practice of ‘Community.’ The following concepts of community intersect through various research outputs: Borderland Community (Habermas); Extraterritorial Community (Levinas); Unavowable Community (Blanchot); Narratological Community (Ricoeur); Open Community (Agamben); Curating [Heterological] Community (Ranciere); and Ecosophic Community (Bateson and Guattari).

[1] Hagi Kenaan, The Ethics of Visuality; Levinas and the Contemporary Gaze (London/New York: I.B. Tauris, 2013).

Wednesday 27th May 2015

Closing Address: Mark Dorrian, PhD  will lecture on ‘What’s Interesting?’    

A celebrated aphorism – attributed to the renowned modernist architect Mies van der Rohe – runs, “I’d rather be good than interesting“. The phrasing suggests that, for Mies, it was possible to be one or the other, but probably not both at the same time. To be good meant to produce works of universally recognizable and enduring value, as opposed to ones that were likely to be mere curiosities, distractions soon to be passed over for something else. In design discourses today – and this is very striking in architectural studio pedagogy – this relation has been entirely overturned. What has happened, however, looks not so much like a switching around of the categories, as the complete absorption of one by the other: now it’s good to be interesting, indeed better than to be only ‘good’ (which is no longer what it used to be).

Reflecting on this, this lecture will consider the rise of ‘interesting’ as a critical category, and examine the sort of judgement-in-suspension that it seems to enact, addressing what kinds of issues might be at stake in it, and what it means in relation to our broader cultural expectations of architecture. The argument will develop with reference to the work of writers such as Theodor Adorno, Mikhail Epstein, Sianne Ngai, and Mario Perniola, relating the topic to theorizations of cultural boredom, distraction, and the enigma as the constitutive core of the artwork.

Mark Dorrian, PhD holds the Forbes Chair in Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. His work spans topics in architecture and urbanism, art history and theory, and media studies, and has appeared in publications such as Cabinet, Chora, Cultural Politics, the Journal of Architecture, the Journal of Narrative Theory, Log, Parallax, Radical Philosophy, and Word & Image. Mark’s recent books include the Seeing From Above: The Aerial View in Visual Culture (co-edited with Frédéric Pousin [2013]) and a forthcoming volume of collected essays titled Writing On The Image: Architecture, the City and the Politics of Representation. He is currently working on the political history of air-conditioning, and on a pamphlet on robotic weapons (Welcome to the Dronosphere) for the RETORT collective. Mark has been a visiting professor at the Arkitektskolen Aarhus (Denmark), University of Michigan (USA), and Tianjin University (China), and a visiting scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.

Small_Poster_11x17_HiRes

Call for Papers

In a world where we face others that we do not understand, the question of alterity becomes essential to our critical thinking.  Alterity is a philosophical term meaning “otherness” describing the ability to distinguish between self/ not-self, while opening up the recognition of  alternative viewpoints. This 2-1/2 day international symposium will focus on interdisciplinary contributions that discuss alterity from diverse perspectives including spatial, architectural, political, cultural and philosophical. The overall objective is to create an educational forum providing an active dialogue between both postgraduate and early career researchers with seasoned scholars, while establishing collaborative links between regional and international universities. We invite paper abstract submissions under the following 4-thematic session topics, plus an additional open category. Authors may submit only one paper per session topic. The same paper abstract may not be submitted to multiple topics. Please submit to one-of-five paper sessions:

1. Space of Communicativity
2. Global Architect of Alterity
3. Unveiling the Political: Process, Identity and Alterity
4. Conceptualizing Counter-Hegemonic Sites, Practices and Narratives
5. Open Category

Our intention is that these themes will be organized as separate tracks within the main symposium. We are delighted to also include keynote lectures from Simon Critchely, PhD, Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy (New School of Social Research) and Michael Jenson, PhD, Associate Dean and Assistant Chancellor for Research (University of Colorado); and also invited presentations from Xavier Guillaume, PhD, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations (University of Edinburgh); and Dorian Wiszniewski, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Critical Theory (University of Edinburgh). Please submit as pdf attachments both 400-word abstracts and short-bio or resume in English, also specifying which session topic(s),  by e-mail to: ArchitectureofAlterity@gmail.com by 15^th February 2015.

Notifications of acceptance with peer-review comments will be returned after March 15^th 2015. ARCHITECTURE OF ALTERITY‘s exact programme will be announced after acceptance of abstracts by 15^th of February 2015.

Timeline

Announcement of symposium’s call: January 15^th 2015

Abstract Submission: February 15^th 2015

Notification of Acceptance: March 15^th 2015

***Revised date***Symposium Event + Paper-Presentation: May 25-27^th 2015

***Revised date***Full Paper | Publication Submission: July 15^th 2015 [final paper due after symposium]

Venue University of Edinburgh | Edinburgh College of Art | ESALA, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Registration Free admission with limited seating. All presenters guaranteed a seat. Eventbrite registration available on  April 20th.

Contacts For any inquires, please contact: ArchitectureofAlterity@gmail.com or Liz Martin-Malikian <E.Martin-Malikian@sms.ed.ac.uk>

drawing by julie mehretu