East West Central 03: Re-framing Identities Architecture’s Turn to History 1970-1990
ETH, Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, Zurich (September 10 – 12, 2015)
The decades between 1970 and 1990 were characterized by the rise of postmodernism in architecture in Western and Eastern Europe. An increasingly critical attitude toward modernism led to a growing concern for history, context and meaning. Architects, again, sought to represent regional and national traditions through built form. Alternative spatial identities began to question the ideological and territorial divide between East and West, and instead embraced a shared European cultural heritage.
We will discuss attempts to establish transnational networks and institutions, publish journals and pursue projects with the participation of architects from state socialist and capitalist countries, and we plan to invite some of the protagonists. This will allow considering for the first time the complex and at times contradicting dimensions of architectural culture of the recent past in East, West and Central Europe.
Keynote lectures by Ákos Moravánszky, Stanislaus von Moos, Joan Ockman and Karin Šerman, as well as contributions by renowned and young international scholars will address the emergence of postmodern thinking and the turn to history in architecture.
Attendance of the conference is free of charge. We kindly ask you to register your interest by sending an email to professur.moravanszky@gta.arch.ethz.ch until 31 August 2015.
Website: http://www.moravanszky.arch.ethz.ch/events/eastwestcentral03
Prof. Dr. Ákos Moravánszky (chair)
Torsten Lange (coordinator)