08.10.2013 | what’s on
by Centre Canadien d´Architecture
CCA Canadian Center for Architecture
Call for Papers icam17
deadline Friday 20th December 2013
session 1 and 2
Archiving born-digital material
Montreal, Monday, September 22nd, 2013
10:30 – 12:30h
Chair: Martien de Vletter, CCA, Montreal, Canada
Institutions collecting born digital material thought they were working on very contemporary projects. The theoretical tone surrounding digital media in architecture was established – at the time – by young designers and the periodicals that published their work as primarily promissory and often even worse, as futuristic proclamations. Today, working with born digital material is working with the past. It has become clear that architects clearly formulated the role and influence that digital technology would have on the projects and in their creative process as they embarked on incorporating digital tools into their design process.
How can we, as archival and curatorial institutions unravel the myths of the digital and more over how can we collect, ingest and make data accessible for our public and researchers. Related to the exhibition Archaeology of the Digital II being held at the CCA during the conference, the first two sessions will be on archiving born-digital material. We would like to discuss, several case studies icam members are working on from an archival point of view and include a session on the pure technical aspects (what systems do we use, how do we harvest digital material, what software do we use to give access). Archiving born-digital material implies an understanding of the first experiments which set the standards that are now more and more common. It means that we need to work on the projects not only as examples of the present or the future, but as something shaped in the past.
A call for papers will explore a wide range of case studies dealing with the complex process of archiving digital projects, from the acquisition to public access of a project. What instruments can we use, what software and/or hardware is necessary to read digital material, how do we determinate what we are collecting and how do you make classification schemes for hard drives that store thousands of files? Will we be able to make curatorial choices within digitally designed projects? The second session on the technical aspects will be presented in the form of a workshop and related to the case studies – input of icam member is very welcome!
Contact: mdevletter@cca.qc.ca
session 3
The role of photographic collections in architecture centers and museums
Montreal, Tuesday, September 23rd, 2013
9:00 – 12:00h
Chair: Gary van Zante, Peter Don
In the last years, we have witnessed an incredible rise in the importance of images in the construction of architectural discourse. This so-called triumph of the image implies that the visual representation of architecture, the city and the landscape overpasses its cultural dimension and becomes fashionable transmission, mere consumption.
With the changing technology of photography and video, what is their role today in documenting and interpreting the transformations of the built environment? And consequently what kind of photographic collection can we build within architecture collections?
We need a new way to rethink the relationship between photography and architecture as vehicle for knowledge and to produce a critical and productive understanding of its intellectual values. Photographs are fabricated objects situated in a cultural context; therefore, we need to re-imagining the photography collection in architecture collections. Photography represents a progression of development in the field. We need to investigate how this evolution changed the aesthetic and epistemic values of photography.
The objective of the seminar – for which we wish to call for papers – is not only to stress photography as a critique on architecture, landscape and urban design and planning, but also as a tool for shaping our architectural discourse.
Contact: vanzante@mit.edu, P.don@cultureelerfgoed.nl, mdevletter@cca.qc.ca
session 5
Collaborative projects and collaboration among different institutions
New York, Friday, September 26th, 2013
14:30 – 18:00hr
Chair: Guus Beumer, het nieuwe instituut, Rotterdam
The fifth and last conference session is being held at Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, Columbia University on collaborative projects and collaboration among different institutions in respect to the archives. The joint venture between the Museum of Modern and Avery Library for taking care of the Frank Lloyd Wright archives will be used as one of the case studies. What were the intentions to collaborate, was there a detailed plan or a general understanding?
However, there are many more forms of collaboration of which the merge of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, The Premsela institute for Design and the Virtual Platform is one of the most extreme examples. Again, what were the motives for this merge and how detailed was the merge foreseen? Has it changed collection policies, or the way the public is being addressed?
We welcome other case studies from icam members to address any possible form of collaboration. What are the motives to collaborate? And what are the experiences with collaboration? Is collaboration a new business models for architecture institutions? Can you attract other and new public by collaborating on an institutional and strategic level?
Contact: g.beumer@hetnieuweinstituut.nl, mdevletter@cca.qc.ca