Branko Mitrović’s book Architectural Principles in the Age of Fraud presents a systematic analysis of the use of obfuscation as an argumentational strategy that came to dominate architectural theory starting with the 1970s. The book analyses various methods of obfuscation that were developed by advocates of phenomenology, deconstruction and other trends in architectural theory and various forms of efforts to bamboozle readers by pretentious but incompetent use of philosophical terminology. The core thesis of the book is that the rise of obfuscation resulted from the incapacity of the architecture profession to respond to the awareness of the failure of the modernist movement that became obvious precisely in the 1970s.

Branko Mitrović is a philosopher and historian of architecture. He is a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. Mitrović received two doctorates – architecture and philosophy – with theses dedicated to Renaissance authors Daniel Barbaro and Jacopo Zabarellla. Among the monographs he published are Learning from Palladio (2004), Serene Greed of the Eye: Leon Battista Alberti and the Philosophical Foundations of Renaissance Architectural Theory (2005), Philosophy for Architects (2011), and Visuality for Architects: Architectural Creativity and Modern Theories of Perception and Imagination (2013).

Seminar Participants:

Branko Mitrović (Norweigan University of Science and Technology, Trondheim)

Petar Bojanić (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade)

Snežana Vesnić (Faculty for Architecture, University of Belgrade)

Marko Ristić (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade)

Miloš Ćipranić (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade)

The event will be photographed and recorded due to publishing on social networks, the website and other information channels for the purpose of promoting the event and activities of the Institute.