Record/Replay: Data, Technology, and Experimental Preservation

The 2019 Fitch Colloquium, organized by Columbia GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program Director Jorge Otero-Pailos, will explore the future of Historic Preservation through the lens of experimental approaches to digital documentation, analysis, interpretation, archiving, sharing, visualization, and re-materialization of data.  

Can digital technologies for capturing and reproducing reality deepen our understanding and enrich our experience of built heritage? Can these new technologies not only improve the daily practice of preservation but effectively inform a new paradigm of cultural heritage? The 2019 Fitch Colloquium will examine cutting-edge processes involving the development and application of digital tools to projects of all scales, including high-resolution 3D scanning, gaming, computer-based visual pattern recognition, blockchain encryption, behavioral geo-tracking, and interactive projection mapping among others. Internationally recognized experts from a varied range of disciplines will unpack their work and speculate on the conceptual changes that might emerge in response to the current upheaval in technology.  

Conference schedule
February 14, 6:30pm
Room 209, Fayerweather Hall
Cocktail reception followed by a keynote address at 7pm presented by Norman Weiss, Adjunct Professor of Historic Preservation, Columbia GSAPP

February 15, 9:30am–5pm
Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall
The full-day conference will include the following participants:

David Gissen, PhD, Professor and Associate Chair, Graduate Programs Division of Architecture, California College of the Arts
Dr. Pilar Bosch Roig, Associate Professor and Researcher, University Polytechnic of Valencia
Dr. Frédéric Kaplan, Assistant Professor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Dr. Hannah Lewi, Professor of Architecture, University of Melbourne
Ian Bogost, Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies, Professor of Interactive Computing Professor, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology
Carlos Bayod, Factum Foundation and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP
Arnaud Baernhoft, Digital Producer, Alchemy VR
Carlos Benaïm, Perfumer, International Flavors and Fragrances
Yves Ubelmann, Digital Architect for Cultural Heritage, ICONEM
Emily L. Spratt, PhD Candidate, Princeton University
Chance Coughenour, Digital Archaeologist, Google Arts & Culture
Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture, Columbia GSAPP
Caitlin Blanchfield, PhD Candidate, Columbia GSAPP

Moderators:
Erica Avrami, PhD, James Marston Fitch Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP
David Benjamin, Founding Principal of The Living and Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP

Free and open to the public. Please register to attend the keynote address here and the full-day conference here.