Facing Forward #6: 'Future City'

Lecture with Rem Koolhaas.

25 Apr 2012

The city as the location for socio-political, cultural, and artistic production is a disputed place, constantly being tested by local conditions and global and transnational circumstances. How do we shape and frame our future city?

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CCTV Hoofdkwartier Beijing. - Rem Koolhaas

With:

This event is sold out! To accommodate the great demand for tickets, the lectures will be live streamed and broadcast at the Oudemanhuispoort Room D0.08.

Seating is arranged on a ‘first come, first serve’ policy, so please make sure you are on time.

'Future City'

What influence will steadily accelerating globalization have on the shape and image of the future city, or in relation to the rural context? And will the transnational flow of people, work, and images redefine the concept of “urban”? Can we imagine a metropolis beyond the “global city”?

Artists have always claimed the public, urban domain as the place for artistic production, interventions, and exhibitions. But will there still be room for art in the city of the future? In pessimistic scenarios, public art becomes no more than an extension of the urban screen, caught in the vocabulary of city branding. Does art still have its own place in the cities of the future? And what will public art look like? Will it be digital, (anti-) monumental, or will it be based on action? In what physical or conceptual forms will it manifest itself?

Speakers: Rem Koolhaas & China Miéville

REM KOOLHAAS founded OMA in 1975 together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp. As well as overseeing OMA’s work in architecture and masterplanning around the world, Koolhaas co-directs AMO, OMA’s internal think tank that operates in areas beyond the boundaries of architecture and urbanism — including fashion, technology, sustainability, and politics. The work of Rem Koolhaas and OMA has received several international awards.

CHINA MIÉVILLE is a writer who lives and works in London. He is the author of nine novels and one short story collection. His fiction includes The City & The City (2009), Embassytown (2011), Perdido Street Station (2000) and the forthcoming Railsea (2012). He is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick.

Moderator:
CHRISTOPH LINDNER is Professor of Media Studies and Director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) at the University of Amsterdam. Lindner’s work addresses the relationship between cities, globalization, and visual culture, and he has published extensively on this topic.