Alexander Cetkovic (UK)

neja — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:28:48 +0000

The language of architecture has evolved with human culture and has built a repertoire of forms and topoi that we take for granted without being forced to constantly reflect about the meanings of these forms. We perceive and orient ourselves in the built environment without interpreting every form or space separately. However, this is not usually the case in the architecture of change. In such responsive environments, the changes are often so omnipresent and explicit that the interactor’s attention is fixed during these changes. There might be situations in which demanding full attention while the environment changes is necessary. But as a general rule, such an approach cannot serve as a model for future architecture. This is because, if all technology, flexible architecture included, is to compete for the attention of the user, the consequence will be a dissonance and overload of signals and events – a scenario which the user would try to avoid or ignore altogether.

One approach by which responsive architecture may become a part of our lives as static architecture has is to adapt it in such a way that only our peripheral awareness is stimulated. But for this architecture to function properly, it needs to communicate with its users. Can this be achieved without demanding the full attention of the user? What could be the strategies for such architecture to inform the users unconsciously and to obtain the input necessary to perform properly? Is such architecture still deterministic, or would this kind of interpretational architecture lead to non-determinism and the emancipation of the user from the will of the architect?

TodaysArt 2012 Symposium: Bright Collisions

neja — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:44:44 +0000

As part of the 8th edition of the TodaysArt Festival, the three-day symposium entitled ‘Bright Collisions’ took place at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. During the symposium, the audience, artists and professionals from various backgrounds discussed a range of contemporary and urgent topics in which art, technology and society meet and exert forces on each other.

The participants looked at what art can contribute to society in a time when the forms, values and relations of creative and technological media are being reinterpreted. In order to create a cohesive view on these developments, the subjects were approached from various scientific, social, historical and artistic perspectives, on both a practical as well as a theoretical level. With the symposium we touched upon a series of topics that gave us space for discussion and information exchange.

The Symposium was organized by TodaysArt in cooperation with the International Cities of Advanced Sound and related arts (ICAS) network, the Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends (STT) and the Royal Academy of Art The Hague. The realization of the Symposium has been made possible by the support of the EU Culture Programme, the DOEN Foundation, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Zuid-Holland, Witteveen+Bos and Fonds1818.

ARTISTTALK » interactive architecture

Alexander Cetkovic (UK)

TodaysArt 2012 Symposium: Bright Collisions