CFP 31.01.2019

Fielding Architecture (Brighton, 24-25 Jun 19)

Brighton, 24.–25.06.2019
Eingabeschluss : 28.02.2019

Catalina Mejía Moreno

Fielding Architecture: Feminist Practices for a Decolonised Pedagogy

In the late 1970s architectural and spatial practices in the UK were challenged by feminist approaches largely derived from within the architectural discipline itself. From the 1990s onwards, architectural history / theory has been informed by gender theory appropriated, or migrated, from other disciplines. More recently, interdisciplinary critical methodologies have been used to reconceptualise architectural production, criticism and representation. What we evidence today, de-spite an emphasis on ‘Global Architecture,’ is that all these efforts are still largely informed unilaterally, and constructed within ‘Western’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon’ frame-works. This leaves a field defined as the ‘West’ and the ‘rest’. Further, the majority of rethinking of gender and decolonisation occurs within institutional and academic frameworks through practices of teaching and writing. This activity, though pertinent, often remains interior and self-referential and fails to permeate to and affect the exterior worlds of professional architectural and design practices.
This interdisciplinary symposium proposes to explore and question the practice of teaching architectural history / theory primarily focused in the UK context though welcoming a debate through dialogues with other contexts from a feminist and critical perspective, asking: how is it constructed, from which positions, and from where its content derives; how can its construction be critiqued and informed by other disciplines such as feminist geographies, environmental psychology, cultural studies, technology and science studies, queer theory and urban geography amongst others; and, moreover, how should architectural histories and theories be constructed in the future. We will situate ourselves at the boundary: looking both inside at the fundamentals of architecture; and looking outside at the expanded field, yet always maintaining a critical gendered perspective.

Taking place at the University of Brighton (UK), on June 24–25th, 2019, the symposium asks: What forms might a gendered history and theory of architecture take? What are our modes of operation, how do we teach, and how can we learn from others and exchange with critical thinkers both inside and outside the academy? How do we operate within the established frameworks, both historical and institutional, and how can we establish new frameworks and networks that transfer/exchange knowledge between the university and different modes of practice?

Keynote speakers:
Professor Katie Lloyd Thomas (Newcastle University)
Professor Lesley Lokko (University of Johannesburg)

The symposium will focus on four areas:
1. Critiques: What constitutes the canon of architecture (the rules, frameworks, habits, practices, contents). How is this an effective architectural knowledge base? How can this be criticised? What does the criticism in itself constitute as a method or framework? What questions can/should be formed here on decolonisation?
2. Contents: Addressing the sites of architectural knowledge, we work towards creating a broader body of knowledge inclusive of gender, class and race, and one that flexes and bends, grows rather than calcifies and sets limits. How can we translate across contexts? Here we also call for papers that even problematise the idea of architecture itself, as a set of neutral normative, westernised and gendered ideologies and values.
3. Modes and sites of writing and research: Focusing on the institutional sites and frameworks in which architectural knowledge is produced and con-strained, we reconsider writing and researching as spaces of action, production and contestation. How can we critique, challenge and re-propose modes of writ-ing and dissemination?
4. Modes and sites of teaching: Engaging with modes of architectural exploration in pedagogical settings – from the lecture theatre, the seminar, to the tutorial, to the online rubric – how can these re-evaluate the relationships between content and knowledge as well as of ethics and care? How can we develop and scope the invention and application of new methods of teaching and writing that reflect this?

There are two modes of delivery in this 2-day symposium:
Day 1 / Conference day / standard 20 minute papers: in four consecutive sessions structured around the areas 1–4 outlined above.
Day 2 / Workshop sessions / 10 minute position papers: in four concurrent work-shops consisting of the session speakers and chair from day 1, plus five speakers delivering 10 mins position papers. Subsequent workshop discussion will focus on the co-production of a set of documents in real time.

Call:
Please send your 200 word abstracts, plus short biography (150 words max) indicating which area or areas [1–4] you think your research falls into. Please also indicate your preference for a 20 minute or a 10 minute paper.
For submissions follow this link:
http://brighton.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/fielding-architecture-call-for-papers
General enquiries please email: southcoasteventsbrighton.ac.uk

Schedule:
February 28, 2019: Deadline for submissions of abstracts
March 18: Announcement of selection of 20 min papers and 10 min position papers
June 3: Submission of full papers
June 24-25: Fielding Architecture symposium

Practicalities:
This symposium is financially supported by the School of Architecture and Design and the Creative Futures at the University of Brighton.
We have endeavoured to keep costs to a minimum, but will ask for a registration fee of: £65 affiliated delegates/speakers [£80 including evening meal] // £45 students/unaffiliated [£60 including evening meal]

This IV Symposium on Architecture and Gender is organised by:
Catalina Mejía Moreno (University of Brighton)
Emma Cheatle (University of Sheffield)

Quellennachweis:
CFP: Fielding Architecture (Brighton, 24-25 Jun 19). In: ArtHist.net, 31.01.2019. Letzter Zugriff 28.03.2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/20054>.

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