performing

“… ‘performative’ suggests a dramatic and contingent construction of meaning.” [1]

Bodies performing architecture :: Architecture performing bodies. 

This semester’s studio at architectural theory is inspired by the artist Heidi Bucher’s understanding of architecture as a spatial manifestation of social relations: an intertwining of space, body, and identity. Going through different scales, this studio’s aim is to investigate the different encounters between the human body, technology, art, space, and architecture. We will  do so by  studying different constructs of performance and to blur the boundaries between an occupied space and the occupying body.

The studio will be organised in thematic cycles:

Starting with “Performing: Domesticities”, we will look into the performance of everyday life in therefore constructed and assigned spaces/architectures.

“Performing: Habitats” will look at bodies that when liberated from such ascriptions inhabit artificial  envelopes.

“Performing: Metamorphoses” marks the point at which the body turns into architecture by modifying its flesh and skin or by creating space through its own movement.

And last but not least, in the cycle  “Performing: Materialities” we will look into  New Materialism, as it either takes back the body and lets the architecture perform by itself or even uploads the body into the virtual space.

Combining the reading, viewing, and interpreting of various sources (literature, movies, podcasts, ….) and round table discussions throughout the semester, we will take a closer look into references that are strongly related to architecture, the body and of course the performance of them, as well as the work of architects, artists and thinkers who have embedded these into their practice. The outcome of this process is then presented in a collectively edited publication(s).

[1]  Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, (New York and London: Routledge, 1999), 177.

Introduction video: http://www.architecturaltheory.tv/?p=3136&lang=de

Start: Thursday, March 10th at 10.00 a.m. at the Institute for Architectural Theory

Language of instruction: German and English

Foto Credit: Lucy McRae, Astronaut Aerobics, 2014.