Social Diagrams. Planning Reconsidered
June 20 – August 23, 2008
Opening: June 19, 7pm
Reuchlinstr. 4b
D – 70178 Stuttgart
info [at] kuenstlerhaus.de
The international exhibition “Social Diagrams” at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart presents artistic projects and historical material that focus on complex social systems. The works investigate the dynamics of social interaction and question the meaning of design practice within the functionality of social relations. What relation do individual needs have to the design of collective spaces? What are potential functions of authorship, of information and of power relations within the design process?
The exhibition offers a view of various inquiries into methodologies that have sought to describe social developments since the 1960s through the use of increasingly complex models. Such theories have recently been taken up by artists and designers in order to research the function of communication and control. The exhibition includes architectural drawings, photos, models and video works of the past 40 years as well as projects of contemporary artists and architects.
The debates about design methodology presented in the exhibition at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart reflect on the question of how a reliable connection to surrounding realities can be constructed through design. The discourse initially based on knowledge transfers from other disciplines, such as early cybernetics, systems theory or economy, soon became radically politicized. More recent research has focused on the emancipatory potential of strategies of direct user participation. In the exhibition “Social Diagrams”, these efforts and their influence on contemporary art and architecture will be examined and presented in an international scale. Planning theory and design methodology are understood as a discoursive field, from which assumptions about the world and its representation can be challenged and forms of interpretation and critique can develop.
Curated by Jesko Fezer and Axel John Wieder.
Artists:
Anja Abele, Can Altay, An Architektur/Mathias Heyden, Dexter Sinister/Steve Rushton, Marcius Galan, Ryan Gander, Ian Kiaer, Zoe Leonard, Karolin Meunier, Yorgos Sapountzis, Kateřina Šedá, Phillip Taaffe/Thierry Cheverny, Mirjam Thomann, Lan Tuazon, Stephen Willats and Seminar “Wer plant die Planung“ (Prof. Michael Dreyer, Julia Weiss, Linn Rose, Stefan Stahlbaum, Peter Riemer), Merz-Akademie Stuttgart
Historical contributions:
Bruce Archer, Arch+, Lucius Burckhardt, Paul Davidoff, Design Methods Group, Emory Douglas, Richard D. Duke, Helga Fassbinder (Sanierungsgruppe Kreuzberg), Allan Feldt, Marc Fester und Nikolaus Kuhnert, Martin Geiger, Ruth Glass, John Habraken / SAR, Studienarbeiten an der Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (Dozenten: Bruce Archer, Horst Rittel, Anthony Froschaug, Hans Gugelot, Walter Zeischegg), John Chris Jones, Reiner Kallhardt, Martin Krampen, Helmut Krauch / Studiengruppe für Systemforschung, Projektgruppe Kommunikationstechnik Universität Stuttgart (Claus Dreyer, Harald Ortlieb, Andreas Strunk, Ulrich Bernhardt), Max Lock Centre, Wolf Reuter, Horst Rittel, Sanfte Strukturen, John FC Turner, Anthony Ward
Exhibition Architecture: Andreas Müller
Events:
July 3, 7pm
Ingeborg M. Rocker: Incalculability According to Plan. The Computer as Co-Author of Information Aesthetics
July 15, 7pm
Marion von Osten: In the Desert of Modernity. Colonial Planning and After
July 23, 7pm
Simon Sadler: Early Cybernetics, Counter Culture and Non-Plan
July 26, 7pm
Claus Dreyer, Andreas Strunk, Ulrich Bernhardt: Project Group Communications Reserach
July 29, 7pm
Wolf Reuter: Ulm – Stuttgart. Design and Planning Methodology since the 1960s
August 21, 7pm
Performance by Yorgos Sapountzis
Contact details:
Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Reuchlinstr. 4b, D – 70178 Stuttgart
Tel. +49 (711) 617 652
info@kuenstlerhaus.de
For further information visit www.kuenstlerhaus.de
