EVENT: "The Politics of Architectural History", lecture 11/28
SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS,
New York Metropolitan Chapter
Presents a lecture co-sponsored by
The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union
“The Politics of Architectural History”
by Jean-Louis Cohen
Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 6:30 pm
The Cooper Union Engineering Building, Wollman Auditorium
51 Astor Place, between 3-4 Avenues
New York, NY 10003
As a parody of a 1968 slogan, one could affirm that architectural history is a form of political action. At any rate, it cannot be put in doubt that the practice of this discipline and its institutions are inscribed in the political field. This inscription is structured thematically and the political determinations of architectural culture have been the object of numerous investigations, precisely during the 1960s, which have tended, in the case of twentieth century architecture, to undermine the superficial representation of architectural works considered as “Nazi”, “fascist” or “Stalinist”, to mention only three of the most obvious examples of the encounter between political regimes and built production. Interpretations shaped in the last decades have faced the necessity to reconstruct the temporalities of these encounters. But the inscription of history into politics has other implications. The construction of collective identities is based on the shaping of patterns of rememoration, in which buildings and territories play a significant role, thanks to their ability to crystallize experience and create markers perceived by the people. In this respect, architectural history has sometimes been mobilized to produce the mythical narratives useful for policies of occupation and colonization, as well as for the policies of post-colonial emancipation that have followed. The illusion of a research strategy which would be autonomous, immune of political pressure, as well as from its interiorization by scholars, must therefore be abandoned, whereas this pressure should remain for today’s historians altogether a point of attention and a source of anxiety.
Postable version of this information, with a color picture:
http://pages.nyu.edu/~sc3/cohenposter.doc
Membership form for the New York Metropolitan Chapter:
http://pages.nyu.edu/~sc3/sah06membership.doc
Listing of chapter events, 2004-2007:
http://pages.nyu.edu/~sc3/sahEventsList.doc
For more information, contact chapter president Yvonne Elet
([email protected] ) or membership coordinator Sherman Clarke ([email protected])]