Call for papers and conference: Post-Internet Cities

e-flux Architecture and MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology announce a collaboration in the scope of MAAT’s first manifesto-exhibition, Utopia/Dystopia. The Post-Internet Cities conference, organized in collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa and Instituto História da Arte, FCSH, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, seeks to promote a critical reflection on how digital technologies are affecting the conceptualization and life of cities today. How will art and architecture respond to the uncertain and unstable condition that characterize this transformation?

Utopia/Dystopia, A Paradigm Shift
Opening: March 21, 2017

Utopia/Dystopia, A Paradigm Shift, is the first group show that will occupy the entirety of the museum’s new building. The exhibition present side by side works of artists and architects who, in their respective fields, have produced insights and critical reflections on the demise of utopia and its gradual substitution by dystopia. Echoing the 500th anniversary of Thomas More's Utopia, the show reveals how the dichotomy between utopia and dystopia reflects a time of paradoxical acceleration, where anxiety and optimism collide. Starting from the '70s, but focusing essentially on the contemporary period, the show presents more than 60 artists and architects, including Alexander Brodsky & Ilya Utkin, Andreas Angelidakis, Archigram, Archizoom, Timo Arnall, åyr, Kader Attia, Pedro Bandeira, Pedro Barateiro, Olivo Barbieri, James Beckett, Berdaguer & Péjus, Alain Bublex, Jordi Colomer, Robert Darroll, Inês Dantas, Tacita Dean, DIS Collective, Diogo Evangelista, Inci Eviner, Didier Faustino, Cao Fei, Ângela Ferreira, Yona Friedman, Cyprien Gaillard, Pierre-Jean Giloux, Clara Ianni, Renaud Jerez, Gonçalo Mabunda, Michael MacGarry, Office in collaboration with Dogma, OMA, Miguel Palma, Pedro Portugal, William Powhida, Tabor Robak, André Romão, Aldo Rossi, Jonas Staal, Beniamino Servino, Michael E. Smith, Superstudio, Ryan Trecartin, Nasan Tur, Vigilism, WAI Think Tank, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Lebbeus Woods.

More info here.

Post-Internet Cities international conference
May 26, 2017

Talking about the present and the future of our cities means, first of all, discussing what the urban space means to us today. Besides having brought about evident changes to our everyday practices, the communication technologies have radically transformed the way in which cities are recognized, appropriated and (re)designed. The globalization of the Internet and, more recently, the phenomenon of social media, have reshaped the urban space, dividing it into multiple territories that coexist and intertwine, in a growing ambiguity between the public and private domains, between the real and the virtual.

In a scenario of constant hybridization and connectivity, physical distances have shortened, giving rise to ubiquitous and parallel cities, mapped by interactive and collaborative systems. This process explains how the main political protest movements of the last decade appeared online first and then only afterwards occupied the symbolic places of our cities. But are these new socio-cultural dynamics calling into question the role of the built public environment? To what extent should the city be understood as an overlapping between the material reality and a collective imagination that has been reinvented on the social media?

A selection of essays on the conference topic will be published in e-flux Architecture, sponsored by Fundação Millennium BCP.

Conference topics
–Contemporary architecture as urban utopia/dystopia
–Network cultures and the “right to the city”
–Digital (il)literacy and social exclusion
–Architecture and urban iconography after the Internet
–Architecture, technology and uncertainty
–Contemporary art as urban intervention in a digital age
–Digital art in public spaces
–Urban space as mixed reality

Keynote speakers
Hani Rashid
Marisa Olson
Salvatore Iaconesi & Oriana Persico
Carlo Ratti

Coordination
Pedro Gadanho, MAAT DirectorHelena Barranha, Assistant Professor at IST, Universidade de Lisboa and Researcher at IHA/FCSH/NOVA

How to submit a paper

Language: English
Abstracts: Title of paper, abstract (350–500 words), 5 keywords, author’s affiliation, email address and short biography (100–150 words)
Format: PDF file, max. 3 pages or 2MB
Full papers: 2000–2500 words (additional guidelines will be provided soon) 

All abstracts should be sent to the following e-mail address: postinternetcities@gmail.com

The Programme Committee will select the best paper(s) submitted under the framework of this Call for Papers to be included in the e-flux Architecture publication.

Dates
Deadline for abstract submissions: March 26
Notification of acceptance: April 6
Submission of full papers: May 4
Deadline for conference registration: May 12

More info here.