32nd Annual SAHANZ Conference “Architecture, institutions and change” – Sydney (Australie) – 7 au 10 juillet 2015

32nd Annual SAHANZ Conference “Architecture, institutions and change”

Lieu : Sydney (Australie), Museum of Contemporary Art

Date : 7 au 10 juillet 2015

Accédez au programme : cliquez ici

Extrait du site : During the 1960s and 1970s, the probity and relevance of the institutional model in most areas of life were called into question. Of particular significance were Michel Foucault’s studies of forms of institutionalised care and organised supervision which he associated with the exercise of dominance, surveillance and control – famously represented in physical form by the Panopticon (Discipline and Punish, 1975). While alternative models were and have been sought, few institutions were totally disassembled or abandoned. In fact, many of those that weathered the storm, especially within the financial sector, appear to have become larger, more dominant and more powerful.

Recent scrutiny of the abuses of power by religious clergy, politicians and corporate bodies has however lent impetus to the ongoing historical and theoretical investigation of institutions and how they operate. Old concepts such as ideology and the agency-structure dialectic continue to inform discussion, as does the consideration of new forces such as the internet which has complicated our conception of the social domain.
It is timely therefore to renew the discussion of the role and status of architecture in its relationship to the institutional realm, especially around questions of change and transformation. What ideals, principles and values have underpinned the architecture of institutional organisations and constructions in the past and have these changed in recent times? How has the role of architecture in the consolidation and exercise of institutionalised power and authority changed? What role can architecture play in the reconceptualisation of institutions? As was the case with Foucault, there will be conceptions of historical continuity and discontinuity as well as historical method that need to be considered.

Pascal Fort

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