Symposium TransUrbanism: cities enter atmospheric phase

[Claudia Westermann]

from: V2_Organisation

Symposium TransUrbanism: cities enter atmospheric phase
As a sequel to ‘The Art of the Accident‘ (1998) and ‘Machine Times’ (2000)
V2_Organisation organizes on 29 and 30 November a symposium entitled
‘TransUrbanism’.

Data: Thursday 29 and Friday 30 November 2001
Location: NAI Netherlands Architecture Institute, Museumpark 25,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Symposium runs: 10:30 a.m. till 5:30 p.m. (doors open at 10:00 a.m.)
Admission: fl. 100, - (2 days), students fl. 65, -
More information and reservations: Marije Stijkel, e-mail marije at v2.nl or
by phone +31(10) 206-7272.
Lectures by: Rem Koolhaas (NL), Knowbotic Research (D/A), Scott Lash (GB),
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (MEX/CDN), Edward Soja (USA), Lars Spuybroek (NL),
Roemer van Toorn (NL) and Mark Wigley (USA).
The symposium will be moderated by Andreas Ruby (D).

‘TransUrbanism’ describes how our cities enter the new 'atmospheric phase'.
The city and her boarders blur. It is no longer a material object of which
one can easily say where it precisely starts or ends. The urban experience
is continued in other media and is echoed by other cities. Some sort of
urban continuity occurs that only condenses and precipitates here or there
in a ‘city’. Sometimes quite materially, sometimes in a very narrative way,
sometimes statistic, sometimes economically, sometimes very visually, but
mostly all these together. Anyhow the city's continuity is in the first
place temporal and not spatial. Spatial continuity as provided by
architecture and urban planning seems to be less important than creating a
coherent stream of experience in the fusion of movement, brands, faces,
conversations and media. It is the living individual, not the urban
planning, that synthesizes all of these media streams.

The city's substance is hardly material/architectural anymore. Public
squares, market places, the layout of streets seem no longer relevant to
how the city is experienced. Also, cities in general no longer seem to be
the subject of individual experience. The urban experience is a continuous
interaction between the city itself, the Internet, television and
magazines. Consumer behavior and lifestyles are all temporary products of
all of these different media concurrently and especially of how they
interact. A lifestyle is the creation of an uninterrupted atmosphere in
which urban elements such as certain shops and cafés are closely linked to
a certain brand of shoes, cars, clothing and a certain vernacular.
Rather than just attempting to analyze this, ‘TransUrbanism’ aims at a
conscious practice: how can writers, artists and urban developers define
new methods for inventing our future cities?
This symposium brings together thinkers and doers, theorists and
practitioners, analysts and catalysts. Not as passive contrasts but as
active, mutually influencing ways of putting theory into practice and of
theorizing about what is being practiced.

More information can also be found on: www.v2.nl/2001
Production: a project of Las Palmas International Center for Image Culture
and Media Technology, concept and production by V2_Organisatie.
Co-financed by: Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur
Sponsors: Netherlands Architecture Institute, Vereniging Leliman
Special thanks to: Rotterdam 2001, Cultural Capital of Europe