European Architectural History Network

"Which History?" etkinliği 11 - 13 Kasım 2011, "Vitruvius: Text, Commentary, and Image" etkinliği ise 26 - 29 Nisan 2012 tarihleri arasında gerçekleşecek.

The Werner Oechslin Library Foundation (Einsiedeln, Switzerland) announces the Calls for Papers for two upcoming events:

(1) Which History?
Fifth Architectural Conversation in the Werner Oechslin Library

Friday 11 November to Sunday 13 November 2011

(2) Vitruvius: Text, Commentary, and Image
First Colloquium on Architectural Theory of the Werner Oechslin Library Foundation

Thursday 26 April to Sunday 29 April 2012

Both events have a CFP deadline of 10 October 2011

For details of the individual CFPs, please scroll down.

(1)Which History?
Fifth Architectural Conversation in the Werner Oechslin Library

Friday 11 November to Sunday 13 November 2011
The Modern always attempted to block out or even overcome history. Of course it not only had its own history, but it also shaped history, whether as a “new tradition” (as Giedion), or as “new style” (as the International Style in 1932-borrowing from the Gothic, of all things). For the most part, self-representation (with oneself at the center) was the chief motivation of these intiatives. In 1955 Reyner Banham formulated this-within the framework of something that we read as a manifesto of Brutalism-as the “recent history of history,” further defined as the “inner history of the Modern Movement itself”; he also expressly demanded it, with this placement of emphasis. A little later Nikolaus Pevsner, for whom the Modern had long reached its goal and terminated with Walter Gropius, polemically bestowed the term “historicism” on the new postwar architecture. Thus, nearly all the available labels or guises of the historical have entered the horizon of modern architecture.

Still more, such a historical view of an “inner history” was and is so strong, that even today it seems to supplant all the rest. Only specialists bother with history before Le Corbusier and Gropius. Semper, Borromini and Bramante all seem to fade equally far away into the past. And worse, what has faded into the past becomes a museum piece or mythologized, and it is hard to say which of these approaches is the least objectionable.

Is this just an omission, a careless oversight, the result of negligence? Or do we really have a problem with our long-term memory and shrink away from the all-too-different phenomena of a distant past?

For more information, consult the detailed introductory text by Werner Oechslin (in German).

To allow as much time as possible for mutual discussion, papers should be limited to twenty-minute presentations.

Languages for abstracts and presentations: German, English, French, Italian.

At least a passive knowledge of German is expected of all participants.

The Foundation assumes the hotel costs for course participants, as well as group dinners. Travel costs cannot be reimbursed.

Please send brief proposals and CVs by e-mail to: philipp.tscholl@bibliothek-oechslin.ch

CFP deadline: 10 October 2011

(2) Vitruvius: Text, Commentary, and Image
First Colloquium on Architectural Theory of the Werner Oechslin Library Foundation

Thursday 26 April – Sunday 29 April 2012
Beginning in 2012, an annual three-day colloquium on architectural theory will take place in the Werner Oechslin Library in Einsiedeln, Switzerland.

The event is addressed to architectural theoreticians, architects, art historians, historians of science, and others, and seeks to bring together leading experts on the topics as well as, in particular, young researchers from various countries.

Maximum number of participants: 15-20. Additional auditors may be admitted who cover their own costs.

The aim is to advance the relevant field of research with high quality contributions. Each year a new framing topic will be announced. Moreover, the individual presentations will be positioned within a larger context, thus promoting the discourse of architectural theory as a whole.

The Werner Oechslin Library is a center of competence and research in architectural theory. Through the colloquium, a connection with the library’s own research and acquisition activities (particularly the project “Architectural Theory in the German-Speaking Countries”) will be established and emphasized.

It is planned to publish outstanding papers in the library’s journal SCHOLION; occasionally the publication of conference acts will be considered.

The topic for the first colloquium is:

Vitruvius: Text, Commentary, and Image
The irritation that obstructed an understanding of Vitruvius’s text-invested with the highest authority-is proverbial. “Obscurity” was attributed to the text, and early on the differences between the architecture described by Vitruvius and the remains of antique monuments were recognized as a problem and particular challenge. Claudio Tolomei’s letter of 14 November 1542 to Agostin de’Landi shows with which means one thought clarity could be created; it remained the largest unfulfilled project of a Vitruvius edition and exegesis. The difficulties are evident. Clarity cannot be achieved. Text, commentary, interpretation, and image follow their own dynamic, informed by the various points of view and methods. The colloquium objective is to gain insights into the different forms of recognition and comprehension, and the resulting positions of an understanding of Vitruvius.

We seek illuminating contributions to this topic in the form of individual studies, as well as thematic and contextual analyses.

Papers should be limited to thirty-minute presentations.

Languages for paper proposals and presentations: German, English, French, Italian. At least a passive knowledge of German is expected of all participants.

The Foundation assumes the hotel costs for course participants, as well as for some group meals. Travel costs cannot be reimbursed.

Please send short paper proposals and CVs by e-mail to: anja.buschow@bibliothek-oechslin.ch

Deadline: 10 October 2011