International Lecture Series: Utopia diagrammed: categories, genres, actions.

Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole inviterer til åben forelæsning med professor Peter Lang fra Kunstakademiet i Stockholm. Utopia diagrammed: categories, genres, actions. Forelæsningen er del af forelæsningsrækken: "International Lectures Series", hvor Arkitektskolen inviterer store internationale navne indenfor til en eftermiddag med fokus på væsentlige internationale temaer i arkitekturen.

Utopia is fiction, utopia is fact, utopia is practice. These positions may appear irreconcilable, yet they are not. Over the ages, the many twists and turns that mark utopia’s evolution suggest a condition that is as highly ambiguous as it is remarkably ambitious.

Without an invitation to utopia there would be no hope of human advancement, just the prolongation of the status quo. Conversely, so many upheavals inspired by utopian thinking have done more harm than good. And as far as designers and architects are concerned, what would utopia resemble?

Fourier’s Phalansteries, Bentham’s Panopticons, Le Corbusier’s Plan Obus, Superstudio’s Supersurface? Or something altogether different for these times, where ecological paradigms, post-modern enigmas, communal myths, identity politics and post-colonial tactics can set the utopian program? And what would that look like? The story of utopia is a story of dreaming, of making and of becoming. It’s an old idea, but never a fixed formula. That’s what this invitation to utopia suggests—an opening for a different future.

About Peter Lang

Peter Lang is professor in Architectural Theory and History at the Royal Institute of Art, in the Department of Architecture, Stockholm (Kungl. Konsthögskolans-KKH), where he conducts post-graduate research courses in architecture, cities and design. Lang holds a Bachelor in Architecture from Syracuse University and earned a PhD in Italian history and urbanism at New York University in 2000. He is a Fulbright recipient in Italian studies. Lang works on the history and theory of post-war Italian architecture and design, with a focus on sixties Italian experimental design, media and environments. He has been a member of the Rome based urban arts research group Stalker since 1997.