Past and future architecture in the age of circularity
An international group of scholars visited the Department of Architecture and Design-DAD of the Politecnico di Torino for the 3rd symposium of “Provenance Projected” 21-23 May. Led by Professor Mari Lending and Erik Langdalen from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, the project “Provenance Projected. Architecture Past and Future in the Era of Circularity” develops conceptual and methodological models for investigating the social, material, and historical lives of buildings and their future potentials. Provenance Projected reconsiders core cultural and aesthetic concepts such as origins, authorship, ownership, legitimacy, copyright, authenticity, authentication, patina, collective memory, crises, uses, abuses, and trajectories of emotions. It articulates new ways of operationalizing architectural values and strategies for the reuse of buildings within a circular economy.
Members of the project team include architect David Chipperfield, artist Dag Erik Elgin, Caroline Ugelstad, chief curator of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Nicola von Velsen, editor at Hatje Cantz, Adam Lowe, head of Factum Foundation, and scholars Charles Saumarez (Royal Academy of Arts in London), Thomas McQuillan, Amandine Kastler, Alena Rieger, Jørgen Tandberg, Simon Mitchell, Flavia Crisciotti, Tim Ainsworth Anstey (Oslo School of Architecture), Jorge Otero-Pailos (Columbia University), Uwe Fleckner (Hamburg University), and Albena Yaneva (Politecnico di Torino), among others.
Professor Jorge Otero-Pailos delivered the keynote lecture on 21 May, 6pm, Salone d'Onore, Castello del Valentino, lecture title: "The Provenance of Dust". He is director and Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. He is an award-winning artist, architect, and theorist specializing in experimental forms of preservation. He is founder and editor of the journal Future Anterior, co-editor of Experimental Preservation (2016) and author of Architecture's Historical Turn (2010). He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the 2021-22 American Academy in Rome Residency in the visual arts, DoCoMoMo US Design Award of Excellence for the restoration of the former US embassy in Oslo 2024; Artist Award, Arts Westchester, 2024, in recognition for excellence in and contributions to art, Westchester, NY.
Hosted by Professor Albena Yaneva, head of the Invisible Cities Lab at DAD, the lecture was attended by students, staff and guests of DAD who engaged in discussions on provenance, the distributed nature of art and phenomenology of architecture at the time of crisis.