Histories of Digitization
Conversation-Series
In collaboration with Nathalie Bredella
At the TUM Chair of Architectural Informatics and Chair for Theory and History of Architecture
Technical University of Munich, 2021
In collaboration with Nathalie Bredella
At the TUM Chair of Architectural Informatics and Chair for Theory and History of Architecture
Technical University of Munich, 2021
The conversation series "Histories of Digitization" explores the cultural, historical, and material dimensions of contemporary digitization in architecture and urbanism. The series is a cooperation of the Chair of Theory and History of Architecture, Art and Design and the Chair of Architectural Informatics.
Talk 1: "Gestalt vs. Cybernetics"
with Margarethe Pratschke and Daniel Cardoso Llach
In the first event, Daniel Cardoso Llach and Margarete Pratschke discussed the development of graphical user interfaces in the context of postwar U.S. computer research, which, they argue, ultimately united the controversial discussions between Gestalt psychologists and cyberneticists.
Talk 2: "Decentring the Smart City"
with Ignacio Farìas and Martin Tironi
In the second event - "Decentring the Smart City" - Ignacio Farías (Humboldt Universität Berlin) and Martín Tironi (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) discussed ethnographic, science-technology studies, and critical design perspectives on digital urban infrastructure. The discussion goes beyond the simplistic affirmation of "Smart City" projects on the one hand and technology pessimism on the other. Thus, the conversation explores a "decentered" perspective on digital urban infrastructure through an engagement with socio-material aspects, urban context, and experimental prototyping strategies.
Talk 3: "Critical Fabulations"
with Daniela Rosner and Catherine D'Ignazio
The third event "Critical Fabulations" discusses feminist approaches towards computation and design. Daniela Rosner and Catherine D’Ignazio question the familiar narratives of innovation within digital design practices. Taking personal and material perspectives into account, they offer a critical discussion on the ambiguities of digital technologies and enable the ‘fabulation’ of alternative histories.