School of Critical Studies
aestheticsandpolitics.calarts.edu
The Politics of Parametricism:
Digital Technologies and the Future(s) of Sociality
A conference curated and organized by Matthew Poole and Manuel Shvartzberg
aestheticsandpolitics.calarts.edu/conferences
When:
7–9pm Friday 15 & 10am–6:30pm Saturday 16 November 2013
Where:
REDCAT
631 W 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
To reserve tickets: www.redcat.org/event/politics-parametricism
This two-day conference includes a range of international experts from architectural practice and theory, and explores urgent questions that concern the social and political ramifications at stake in the evolution of computational design. Parametricism has been heralded as the new avant-garde in the fields of architecture and design—the next “grand style” in the history of architectural movements. Parametric models enable digital designers to create complex structures and environments, as well as new understandings of space, both real and virtual. Whether as tools for democratic action or tyrannical spectacle; self- and community-building capabilities; a post-humanistic subject; or the mediatized politics of our desired futurisms—all these themes are figured and being assembled within the Parametricist discourse.
Guest Speakers:
Phil Bernstein
Benjamin Bratton
Christina Cogdell
Teddy Cruz
Peggy Deamer
Andrés Jaque
Laura Kurgan
Neil Leach
Reinhold Martin
Patrik Schumacher
Hosted by The MA Aesthetics & Politics Program at CalArts and The Gallery at REDCAT
Lead sponsor: Autodesk
Media sponsor: eVolo Magazine
Program
7–9pm, Friday 15 November: Keynote event:
“Architecture and politics: Parametricism within or beyond liberal democracy?” – a discussion
Reinhold Martin: “On Numbers, More or Less”
Patrik Schumacher: “Thesis on the Politics of Parametricism”
Saturday 16 November: Conference panels:
10am–noon – Panel 1: Introduction to Parametricism: historical and technological context
Phillip G. Bernstein: “Finding Value in Parameters: How Scripting Beyond Form Changes the Potential of Design Practice”
Christina Cogdell: “Breeding Ideology: Parametricism and Biological Architecture”
Neil Leach: “There is no such thing as a political architecture; there is no such thing as digital architecture”
2–4pm – Panel 2: Parametricism, the commons and social representation
Teddy Cruz: “The New Political: Where the Top Down and the Bottom up Meet”
Peggy Deamer: “Parametric Schizophrenic”
Laura Kurgan: “The Method is the Message”
4:45–6:30pm – Panel 3: Designing subjectivities, curating new models of sociality
Benjamin H. Bratton: “The Always Partial System: For an Inhuman Parametricism”
Andrés Jaque: “Architecture as Rendered Society”
The MA Aesthetics and Politics offers a one-year degree that encourages interrogations of the arts and politics in an expanded field. Students specialize in Critical Theory, Global Studies, or Media and Urban Studies and get up close and personal with key contemporary artists and thinkers, including visiting faculty Travis Wilkerson (fall 2013) and theorist-in-residence Fred Moten (spring 2014).
We are currently accepting applications for fall 2014. Apply here. Financial aid packages are available in the form of scholarships, grants, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships.
For general questions, or to schedule an information session, please contact Admissions Counselor Seth Blake at [email protected] or +1 661 253 7716.