19/11/2007
19/11/2007

WO: TU Graz / Hörsaal 2, Rechbauerstr. 12,
WANN: 22.11.2007, 16.00 Uhr

Konferenz Moderation: Charlotte Pöchhacker, Artimage Graz

PART 1 // 16.00 – 18.00
1. Golem Reloaded: The Introductory Story performed by Miss Folly // 10 min
with Jaschka Lämmert, Schauspielhaus Graz

2. Opening Words // 15 min
Andrea Redi, ORTLOS architects, Graz & Charlotte Pöchhacker, Artimage, Graz

3. Vibrant Agonistic Public Spheres // 20 min
Chantal Mouffe, Professor of Political Theory at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster, London
on the space of democracy and the democracy of space

4. Architecture: From Location to Nonlocation, from Presence to Absence // 30 min
Peter Weibel, Chair and CEO of the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
on a new dynamic concept of space characterized by immateriality and nonlocality: for more democracy

5. City Upgrade: The High-spirited Networked City // 40 min
City Upgrade Team presents results of its four-year transdisciplinary project 2003–2007:
Ivan Redi, ORTLOS architects (A) / Georg Flachbart, mind(21)factory (D) / Grigor Doytchinov, TU Graz – Institute for Urban Development (A) / Sven Havemann, TU Graz – Institute for Computer Graphics and Knowledge Visualisation (A)
on a city upgrade through less: democracy realized
further involved in the project: Emil Gruber – (A) / Martin Krusche (A) / Vincent Cellier, JVC architecture (F) / MACHFELD (A) / Manfred Bogen, Fraunhofer Institut Intelligente Analyse und Informationssysteme (D), SPLITTERWERK (A) / SU.N (SpaceUnitNetwork) (A) / WSKKFV Oswald, Peschl (A) / reMI, (A, NL ,D) / Anke Strittmatter, osa 2 - office for subversive architecture (A, D) / Neil Spiller, Bartlett School of Architecture (GB) / Kerstin Höger, ETH Zürich – Institut für Urbanismus (CH)

Break // 18.00 - 18.30 // coffee, cakes & drinks, Presentation City Upgrade in Second Life

PART 2 // 18.30 – 20.30

6. The Well Connected City // 30 min
Nick Leon, Visiting Fellow of Tanaka Business School, Director of Urban Programmes ThinkPlayDo Group at the Imperial College London
on historical parallels between transforming impact of electricity and IT, digital switchover, and on playful nature of cities intensifying innovation

7. Negotiating Boundaries: Architecture as a Responsive Medium // 30 min
Winka Dubbeldam, Principal Archi-Tectonics, New York
on possible intersections of living and working & real and virtual space in today's urban architecture intensifying innovation

8. Round table with lecturers // 19.45 – 20.30 // 45 min
Trigger talk “From Real to Virtual to Annenstraße” by Eberhard Schrempf, Director of Creative Industries Styria

Conference Concept

City Upgrade – the High-spirited Networked City

"If talent magnet developments can get the formula right,
they will probably become key to urban competitiveness
in the twenty-first century". _William J. Mitchell

A hard fact to start with: Our society is going through a transition that is crazier and riskier than ever. It is partly a result of globalization, partly of the Digital Revolution and the information-based economy it has spawned. By freeing us from physical boundaries and physical assets, it has made us both more flexible and more vulnerable to competitors of all kinds. And: It forces us to radically rethink just how long not only business companies, but well-established institutions and even cities too, can survive and thrive.

In today's fast-moving, transnational reality, which can best be characterized as a turbulent maelstrom of ceaseless innovation and change, i.e. uncertain and volatile, European cities, regardless of their ranking, need to act like businesses, i.e. as competitors struggling to attract talents from all over the world – the hottest ingredient of economic success in the near future, uncertain and volatile, too.

To succeed in this struggle, new socio-spatial configurations are required – vibrant agonistic public spheres (Ch. Mouffe) – in which technology, economic and institutional organizations, social relationships, and spatial structures are very closely intertwined, thus enabling all kinds of possibilities for expanding individual opportunity, transforming the structure of work, and creating the future of Europe on its way from the background-based world to the talent-based and performance-based world of universal urbanism. A necessary prerequisite for this is a new dynamic concept of space that is enhanced by dimensions immateriality and nonlocation (P. Weibel), thus propelling emergence of the new (innovation, change) in an unprecedented way. Keyword: Imagination Economy – the future of Europe.

And it is this scrutinizing of the empowering potential of such new socio-spatial configurations, enhanced by dimensions immateriality and nonlocation, that is the formidable challenge of the conference City Upgrade – the High-spirited Networked City, based on the principle of shared research interests. Experts from internationally renowned scientific institutions, research labs and architectural studios will help us get results and, in doing so, come closer in making our vision of Boulevard of Production in Graz 8020 come true.

Focused, well-designed, fast-paced, and free of charge, the conference will also feature a very special guest – Miss Folly – performing the introductory story.

Credits City Upgrade

Conference “Vibrant Agonistic Public Spheres”

Conference initiation, organisation & graphic: ORTLOS architects
Conference concept and programme: Georg Flachbart
Host & technic: Institut für Städtebau, Grigor Doytschinov

Performance "Golem Reloaded: The Introductory Story" was written and directed by
Georg Flachbart in collaboration with Erasmus of Rotterdam and Reich College of
Education, Boon, North Carolina

The interdisciplinary team - 3 years of research // 2004 - 2007

The project was initiated and is leaded by ORTLOS architects – association for experimental architecture und Interface Design, Graz, A

Core team:
3rd project year “City Upgrade – Vibrant Agonistic Public Spheres” 2007
ORTLOS architects, Graz – A / Georg Flachbart, Philosoph der Tat, mind(21)factory – Stuttgart D / Emil Gruber, Fotograf, Graz – A / Grigor Doytchinov, Prof. für Urbanismus, Institut für Städtebau, TU-Graz - A / Sven Havemann, stv.Leiter Institut für ComputerGraphik und WissensVisualisierung – TU Graz - A / Martin Krusche, NetzLiterat, Gleisdorf – A / Vincent Cellier, JVC architecture, Lille - F / Manfred Bogen, Fraunhofer Institut, Intelligente Analyse und Informationssysteme, St.Augustin – D

Additional to the core team:
2nd project year “City Upgrade - City of the Multiverse” 2006: MACHFELD (aka Sabine Maier & Michael Mastrototaro), Medienkünstler, Wien – A / Anke Strittmatter, OSA 2 (A, D), Städtebauerin, Darmstadt - D

Start-up Workshop & 1st project year “City Upgrade – High Spirited Networked City” 2004-2005: Christian Buchmann, als Stadtrat für Kultur, Graz A / Nebojsa Dinic, Programmierer, Nis – SCG / Urs Hirschberg, Prof.für Architektur und Medien, TU Graz, A /Kerstin Hoeger, Urbanistin, ETH Zürich, CH / reMI, (A, NL ,D) / SPLITTERWERK, Architekten Graz – A / Aleksandar Stoiljkovic, Programmierer, NIS - SCG /su.n – spaceunit.network, Neapel, I / Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, Architekt, New York – USA / WSKKFV (Oswald/Peschl) Graz - A

More info about the project: http://opensource.ortlos.at and www.ortlos.org

The three-year research project City Upgrade has been supported by:
Kulturamt Stadt Graz / Forum Stadtpark / Amt für Wirtschafts- und Tourismusentwicklung Stadt
Graz / Zukunftsfonds Land Steiermark / Land Steiermark Kultur / steirischer herbst 2005 /
Kammer der Architekten und Ingenieurkonsulenten für Steiermark und Kärnten /
.KUNST Republik Österreich / KulturKontakt Austria /

Netzwerktreffen
16. + 17.11.2023
 
GAT+