Atmospheres, Architecture and Urban Space: New Conceptions of Management and the Social

Atmospheres, Architecture, and Urban Space: New Conceptions of Management and the Social

Conference at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, Tuesday 17 May 2011 - FULLY BOOKED!

Conference Description:

When the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor became the 2009 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (generally considered the Nobel Prize of architecture), this was obviously a recognition of his masterful works. But it was a recognition as well of his entire approach to spatiality and architecture. Thus, Zumthor is a leading exponent of the view that architecture should be conceived of in atmospheric categories, meaning among other things that the sensory qualities of architecture, its sounds, smells, etc., are fundamental to our experience of it. Interestingly, the acknowledgment of atmospheric dimensions goes far beyond Zumthor’s work. In the early 1970s, Professor of Marketing, Philip Kotler coined the notion of ‘atmospherics’ to describe a new approach to marketing which sought to manipulate spatial atmospheres so as to increase sales and thereby profits.

In recent years there has been a waxing interest in the role played by atmospheres in social life. Much of this interest revolves around architecture, as in Zumthor’s case, but more general discussions have also emerged. One of the most penetrating contributions to these debates has been made by Professor Gernot Böhme in his rich work on aesthetic and architectural atmospheres, including books such as Atmosphäre and Architektur und Atmosphäre. Böhme’s phenomenological work not just displays the great variety of atmospheres we all encounter in daily life; it also emphasizes how the management of atmospheres must be taken seriously by social scientists. Indeed, managing through atmospheric design might constitute a very subtle form of power whose workings rely on the fact that people hardly recognize it.

The atmospheric dimension is also central to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson has earned his reputation as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists not least because of his atmospheric installations and interventions. This applies, for example, to his renowned Weather Project at Tate Modern in London (2003–2004) and more recently to his much celebrated New York City Waterfalls (2008). In both cases Eliasson’s work has not merely addressed our reliance upon atmospheres; it has also demonstrated how our conceptions and perceptions of particularly urban spaces are open for manipulation, whether for the good or the bad.

The relation between the spatial and the atmospheric has been explored as well by the world-renowned architect, Professor, and Pritzker jury member Juhani Pallasmaa. Like Böhme, Pallasmaa endorses a phenomenological approach to architecture. This phenomenological approach is visible, for example, in Pallasmaa’s seminal book on The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, which, as the title indicates, advances a multi-sensory understanding of architecture. This original conception of architecture has been further explored in subsequent books such as The Thinking Hand.

At this one-day conference we are delighted to welcome Böhme, Eliasson, and Pallasmaa as distinguished keynote speakers. The three speakers will discuss the atmospheric dimensions of social life and suggest a variety of ways of investigating atmospheres, as well as their relations to urban space and architecture. Key topics to be explored include: How to think and analyze the atmospheric aspects of the social? How are spatial and architectural features pertinent to an atmospheric notion of the social? How to study cities and organizations with respect to their atmospheric fabric? What role do atmospheres play in contemporary capitalism? What are the implications of the atmospheric thinking for politics and management? To what extent are atmospheres open for manipulation? How can experiments and installations be used in social theory to affect atmospheres?

Program:

9:00-9:15: Welcome (Christian Borch)

9:15-10:30: Gernot Böhme: ‘Urban Atmospheres: Concept and Criticism of Making Atmospheres’

10:30-11:00: Coffee

11:00-12:15: Olafur Eliasson: ‘Emotional Synchronicity: How Art Moves the World’

12:15-13:15: Lunch break

13:15-14:30: Juhani Pallasmaa: ‘Form, Matter and Ambience: Weak Form and Enhanced Imagination’

14:30-14:45: Concluding Remarks (Christian Borch)

Keynote speakers:

• Professor Gernot Böhme

• Artist and Professor Olafur Eliasson

• Architect and Professor Juhani Pallasmaa

The conference is sponsored by Dreyers Fond.

Venue:

Auditorium PHRs.20

CBS

Råvarebygningen

Porcelænshaven 22

DK-2000 Frederiksberg

Conference Organizer: Associate Professor Christian Borch, cbo.lpf@cbs.dk

Registration: The conference is open and attendance is free. However, due to limited space registration is required at: mpp-relations@cbs.dk.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED AS THE CONFERENCE IS FULLY BOOKED!