Joint Project Architecture & Philosophy
5th Summer School
The Project of Theory
Moise Palace, Cres
Tuesday, May 3rd – Saturday, May 7th
Organizers: Center for Advanced Studies – South East Europe, DeltaLab (University of Rijeka), Technical University Berlin, Politecnico Torino, PerspectLab, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (University of Belgrade).
The 2022 Cres – Summer School workshop raises the question of the projective character of theory. Genuine innovation in architecture, we argue, is always a project of theory. By making visible the immanent deficits, the social conditions and paradoxes of architecture, critical theory opens up architecture to the new.
This is all the more important today, when under pressure of debates about sustainability, energy balances and certifications, architecture practice is increasingly dominated by instrumental, technical reason. There is even a belief that theory can be dispensed with altogether. This, however, must be countered with the assertion that there is no institution of architecture without theory. Echoing the philosopher Christine Blättler, it can be said that theory directs the “gaze from metaphysical sense to material intrinsic meaning.” This also means that theory makes architecture possible in the first place: there is no true innovation without theory.
The Summer School The Project of Theory aims to pose questions of relation between theory and architecture practice. Suggested topics will include, but are not limited to:
- The role of theory for the practice of architecture
- The relationship between architecture and other disciplines, such as philosophy, sociology, theory of art, science, etc.
- The social conditions of architecture work and the relationship of architecture practice to social and critical theory
- The reconceptualization of theory in the age of the Anthropocene
- The theoretical models that underlie the concepts of current architecture practice
- Theory as a medium of innovation: How can theory become the medium through which the new finds its way into the conception and practice of architecture?
- The ontology of architecture objects