idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
As both an aesthetic and a fundamentally social space modern architecture foregrounds contemporary notions of building, dwelling, and thinking. Its social meaning, as Slavoj Žižek argued, is not merely to provide housing and infrastructure, but to offer stabilizing counter-spaces within an ever-changing and increasingly conflicted modern public space. Insofar as it lends material form to the promises but also the challenges of modernity, architecture frequently finds itself at the forefront of cultural and social debates. In his talk Klaus Benesch discusses the importance of the built environment as an incubator of social criticism and, ultimately, notions of a non-capitalist, more ‘hospitable’ world. Among the writers and critics who have turned to architecture to forge alternative concepts of home and society the American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau and the German sociologist Theodor W. Adorno are two interesting cases in point. Both have pondered the social consequences of building and dwelling, and both have eventually come to favor a premodern, more humane and hospitable form of design. As I will argue Thoreau’s autobiographical blueprint for his unpretentious wooden cabin that withers away and eventually erases the traces of its own making and Adorno’s famous architectural metaphor of an intrinsically alienated modern life (“kein richtiges Leben im falschen”) , which he illustrated by way of the corrupted design of a modern American apartment building, attest to the crucial role of building and dwelling properly for both critical theory and modern cultural critique at large.
SPEAKER
Klaus Benesch, LMU Munich
MODERATOR
Julika Griem, KWI-Director
COORDINATION
Stefan Höhne, Mercator Research Fellow at KWI
Sabine Voßkamp, KWI Research Management
Information on participating / attending:
PARTICIPATION VIA ZOOM
For participation online via ZOOM please register via emily.beyer@kwi-nrw.de until 20 June 2022.
PARTICIPATION ON SITE
PLEASE NOTE: Limited seats are available for in-person participation. This information is subject to change depending on the current pandemic situation.
Attendance in presence is only possible after written registration. Likewise, wearing a medical or FFP2 mask is still mandatory upon entry to the building.
REGISTRATION: Please register with Marion Fiekens at marion.fiekens@kwi-nrw.de with the indication of „Participation in Person – 21.06.“ by 17 June 2022.
Date:
06/21/2022 18:00 - 06/21/2022 20:00
Registration deadline:
06/17/2022
Event venue:
Gartensaal
Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen (KWI)
Goethestr. 31
45128 Essen
Nordrhein-Westfalen
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, all interested persons
Email address:
Relevance:
transregional, national
Subject areas:
Construction / architecture, Cultural sciences, History / archaeology, Social studies
Types of events:
Presentation / colloquium / lecture, Seminar / workshop / discussion
Entry:
04/21/2022
Sender/author:
Miriam Wienhold
Department:
Pressestelle
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event71422
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