Architecture, Spacial Representation and the filmic imagery

Film, like the metropolis, is a quintessential product of modernity. For
this reason, the cinematic representation of modern architecture and
urban space have been a key focus from its very origin. Above all, film
and architecture share similar practices of the perception and
representation of space: both need to be traversed in order to become
readable. It was the modern metropolis of the late 19th century that
brought into being a spatial dispositif, or device, of the transitory
through characteristic typologies such as the arcades, the railway
stations, department stores, or exhibition pavilions described by
Charles Baudelaire, Walter Benjamin, and others, which made the
characteristic flâneur the mediator of a protocinematic gaze. Within
this urban setting evolved new viewing machines such as the panopticon,
the panorama, and the diorama, all of which may be seen as architectural
precursors of cinema. As film scholar Giuliana Bruno has stated in this
regard: "By changing the relation between spatial perception and bodily
motion, the architecture of transit prepared the ground for the
invention of the moving image."

This two-day symposium explores the complex interrelationship between
architecture and film from modernity to the present. It brings together
scholars and practitioners from the fields of art and architecture, art
and architectural history, as well as film studies, and seeks to bring
different perspectives upon the subject into a productive dialogue.
Rather than asking for the significance of built space for the cinematic
narrative—a subject that has been widely discussed—speakers will address
the potential of film and of the moving image as an epistemological tool
for the analysis and representation of architecture and space. How has
film been used by architects in order to explore and represent spatial
qualities, both historically and in the present?
In what ways is architectural design informed by filmic imaginaries?
What role does film play in architectural and urban research? What
qualities of built urban space do artists render visible when turning to
the medium of the moving image, and how is this take different from that
of static approaches by way of painting, drawing, or photography?
Finally, how can space be interpreted from political, economical, and
gendered perspectives? These are but a number of questions to be raised
and discussed in a series of input lectures and joint discussions. The
symposium will open with a keynote lecture by eminent scholar Giuliana
Bruno (Harvard University) and a film presentation by the
internationally renowned artist Olivo Barbieri, followed by input
lectures and presentations by a number of internationally recognized
experts in the field.


Program

Thursday, June 13, 2013

18:00
Welcome
Michele Luminati, Director ISR

18:15
Opening Remarks
Henri de Riedmatten, ISR and Martino Stierli, Universität Zürich

Keynote Lectures

18:30
Giuliana Bruno, Harvard University
Surface Tension, Screen Space

19:30
Olivo Barbieri, Artist, Carpi (Modena)
Il mondo come installazione temporanea. Site specific_03 13


Friday, June 14, 2013

09:30
Welcome and Introduction
Martino Stierli, Universität Zürich


Section I: Theorizing Space, Visualizing the City

09:45
Teresa Castro, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III
Cinematic Cartographies of Urban Space: From Description to Spectacle

10:30
Richard Koeck, University of Liverpool
Urbanity and Image: Micro and Macro Screen Evolutions

11.15 Coffee break

11:45
Marisa Galbiati, Politecnico di Milano
Immagina Milano: Narrazioni per il design di una città sostenibile

12:30 Discussion


Section II: Historical Takes: Past and Present

14:30
Introduction
Martino Stierli, Universität Zürich

14:45
Edward Dimendberg, University of California, Irvine
Mies van der Rohe and the Moving Image

15:30
Christian Kerez, Architect, ETH Zurich
Stage Design and the Architecture of Cinemas

16:15 Coffee Break

16:30
Henry Keazor, Universität Heidelberg
"L'architecture serait différente si le cinéma n'avait pas existé":
Jean Nouvel and "Cinemarchitecture"

17:15
Response
Marco Brizzi, California State University Florence

17:45 Closing Remarks


Free entry

Simultaneous translation provided for all talks (IT-ENG/ENG-IT).

For further information, please contact:

Istituto Svizzero di Roma
Via Ludovisi 48
I-00187 Roma
t. +39 06 42042209
scienzaistitutosvizzero.it
www.istitutosvizzero.it