Urban identities: art, architecture and the right to the city
Weekend-long art theory course
21 July 2018 10am - 5pm22 July 2018 10am - 5pm
The British Academy Room, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts
£360. Includes all materials, light refreshments and a wine reception.
Terms and conditions
This course is an introduction to the analysis of urban environments, urban creativity and how they have shaped the style and politics of the city. We examine different visual languages from graffiti to corporate and public art, to understand how the city is used, and who urban spaces belong to.
"Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else." - Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (1972)
Cities are products of centuries of urbanisation, ever-changing organisms that result from the overlaying of built infrastructure such as housing, transportation and services, with economies, cultures and experiences. Cities exist at the intersection of these coordinates, and their density facilitates interactions between individuals, institutions and urban imaginaries.
The city is a space for confronting otherness and difference, where inhabitants from various cultures, expectations and opportunities encounter and learn about each other. This experience is profoundly shaped by art, architecture, design and space, and the ways in which these are displayed and regulated in the urban environment. Historians, philosophers, anthropologists and writers have explored these aspects of urban experience across different geographies and cultures, to understand how they influence our lives and our encounters.
This course provides a multidisciplinary perspective on core themes in the theory of contemporary urbanisation, with particular reference to creativity and visual communication in cities, and the ways in which these have been selectively regulated. Sabina Andron, along with leading curators and urban theorists, will explore the city as a site of creativity and normativity, looking at urban objects that influence our lives, interactions and behaviours.
Throughout the two days, participants will be presented with notions of visual culture and urban studies, as well as urban semiotics and the spatial politics of urban governance and independent creativity.
The course will consider a number of key questions:
• What is the role of objects such as public art, architectural and historical monuments, commercial billboards, graffiti tags and street art in expressing visibility and belonging in cities?
• How much are we conscious of the existence and meaning of such objects, and how can we develop a critical understanding of their functions?
• What is the relationship between legal and illegal urban objects, and who should decide what cities look like?
The course will offer a critical introduction to creative and regulatory practices in the built environment, and expand participants’ awareness of urban creativity in its legal, illegal and semi-legal aspects. It will also introduce concepts, tools and histories for a more critical and politicised understanding of urban environments in general, and London in particular.
£360. Includes all materials, light refreshments and a wine reception.
Terms and conditions
About the course
The course will be delivered through an exciting mix of lectures, off-site visits and discussions. It will include workshops and opportunities for questions and debate between speakers and participants.
This course is designed to provide both an historical overview for those new to the field, and to be relevant for those without prior experience keen to learn from experts, analysis, reflection and discussion.
This course is for you if:
• You would like to have a multidisciplinary critical introduction to creative and regulatory practices in the built environment
• You would like to develop your understanding of urban creativity in its legal, illegal and semi-legal aspects
• You would like to develop your understanding of concepts, tools and histories for a more critical and politicised understanding of urban environments in general and London in particular
• You would like to establish a more confident knowledge of urban spaces in a small group setting and get inspiration from peer group discussion and debate
Minimum age 18
This course is suitable for all levels.
£360
Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 July 2018
10.00am–5.00pm on both days
• Expert-led advice and feedback, including group discussion and critique
• Written materials and handouts created specifically for the course
• Light refreshments at the beginning of each day
• A drinks reception at the end of the first day
• A certificate of participation upon course completion
Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos
Professor of Law & Theory, University of Westminster
Founder and Director, The Westminster Law & Theory Lab.
Dr. Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos is regularly invited to talk in institutions around the world and holds permanent professorial affiliations with the Centre for Politics, Management and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School since 2006, and the University Institute of Architecture, Venice since 2009. Andreas has been awarded the 2011 OUP National Award for the Law Teacher of the Year, and has since been invited to join the Judging Committee. He has also been awarded the IUCN Global Senior Distinguished Environmental Law Education Award in 2016 for his radical interdisciplinary teaching. His research interests are also interdisciplinary and include space, radical ontologies, post-humanist studies, literature, psychoanalysis, continental philosophy, gender studies, art theory, and their connection to the law. Andreas is also a practising artist, working on photography, text and performance under the name of picpoet. His academic books include the monographs Absent Environments (2007), Niklas Luhmann: Law, Justice, Society (2009), Spatial Justice: Body Lawscape Atmosphere (2014), and the edited volumes Law and the City (2007), Law and Ecology (2011), Knowledge-creating Milieus in Europe: Firms, Cities, Territories (co-edited with Augusto Cusinato, 2015), Environmental Research Method Handbook (with Victoria Brooks, Elgar, 2017) and the Routledge Research Handbook on Law and Theory (2018). Andreas is the editor (with Christian Borch) of the Routledge Glasshouse series Space, Materiality and the Normative.
About the tutor - Sabina Andron
Sabina Andron is a teaching fellow in Architectural History at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London and Lecturer in Interiors History & Theory, University of East London. Her research focuses on the semiotic, material and legal dimensions of city surfaces, which she examines through signs and inscriptions such as graffiti and street art. Sabina has taught architectural history and theory at several universities across London. She ran an arts facilitation organisation for a number of years, visiting contemporary arts exhibitions in the capital and debating content with more than 1000 members. Sabina holds a BA in comparative literature and an MA in Theatre and Media Studies and an MA in visual culture. Sabina has published and edited volumes internationally and has shown photographic work in exhibitions in Philadelphia, London and Madrid. Her researches can be found on her website Graffiti, Street Art and the Right to The City. Art, Architecture, London.
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Our programme of short courses and classes offers the opportunity to explore a range of subjects, led by expert tutors and practising artists.
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