Call for Papers: Cold War at the Crossroads: 194X-198X. Architecture and planning between politics and ideology
Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, 13-14 June 2017
A decade ago, the international exhibit Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1975 (London 2007) attempted possibly for the first time a wide assessment of the impact that the Cold War had on design culture, opening up new paths of inquiry for architectural historians. Since then, a multitude of studies have contributed to enriching the historiography of the Cold War, engaging new fields and addressing the topic through a plurality of disciplinary perspectives.
The seminar intends to remap/revisit the Cold War and its projections by focusing on its interferences with design culture at different scales. The aim is to reframe accounts and to question established chronologies, individuating decisive moments that marked the interpretation and the perception of the Cold War. Taking into consideration a wide geographic frame, the seminar will encourage transnational perspectives that investigate the mechanisms, places and vehicles of the transfer. One of the goals will be to map actors, organizations, programs, networks and alliances.
Of particular interest are papers addressing: the new role played by technology; the cultural and ideological transfer (propaganda and soft power); historiography over time; competing notions of habitat and their geographical spread; divergent forms of planning.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS. Abstracts in English with a maximum 300 words – accompanied by a one-page CV including name, contact information, affiliation and a list of selected publications – should be sent by 10th March 2017 to coldwaratcrossroads@gmail.com. Notification of acceptance will be sent to authors by 20th March.
UPDATES AND DETAILS. Updates and details about the organization of the seminar will be released through the website coldwaratcrossroads.wordpress.com/. For any question, please contact coldwaratcrossroads@gmail.com. There is no registration fee; unfortunately, the organization cannot cover travel expenses.
Organizers: Patrizia Bonifazio, Gaia Caramellino, Alessandro De Magistris, Federico Deambrosis.
Scientific Committee: Ljiljana Blagojevic (University of Donja Gorica, Podgorica, Montenegro), Ana Bronovitskaya (Moscow’s Institute of Modernism, Russia), David Crowley (Royal College of Art, United Kingdom), Rika Devos (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium), Hartmut Frank (HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany), Jorge Francisco Liernur (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina), Catherine Maumi (ENSA Grenoble, France).
The call for papers can be downloaded here.