[Nettime-bold] urban drift 2002 - pressrelease

[Urban Drift <info@urbandrift.org>]

URBAN DRIFT 2002

9th ­ 13th October, Café Moskau, Karl-Marx Allee 34, Berlin Mitte, and
workspaces throughout Berlin

FROM FORMALISM TO FLUX ­
TRANSFORMATIONAL URBANISM AND NEW URBAN STRATEGIES

At last year¹s urban drift symposium, the architect Cedric Price defined the
term urban drift as one which implied both movement and generosity.
This year from the 9th to the 13th October 2002, urban drift will be able to
do greater justice to its name and will manifest itself as a broad-based
platform made up of a two-day conference, a night space ­ a forum for
transformational urbanism ­ drawing together artists, architects,
filmmakers, writers, sound artists and DJs in a mutual exchange ­ and open
workspaces throughout the city.

The main location, Café Moskau, on the Karl-Marx-Allee near Alexanderplatz,
is in itself a significant building ­ particularly in the context of
Berlin¹s redevelopment. One of the notable buildings of the early sixties,
adorned with utopian mosaics, and a model of the USSR sputnik ­ donated to
the GDR - it has been closed for over two years and by the time urban drift
takes place it will be partially renovated and open for events and temporary
use. 10 minutes away from Alexanderplatz, Café Moskau stands on the main
artery towards the German/Polish border.


The conference ­ From Formalism to Flux ­ mobility and new urban strategies
­ 
October 11th and 12th, 2002

A two-day international symposium drawing together international
participants from the disciplines of architecture, urbanism, interactive
design, art and media activism, in a mutual discourse on mobility ­ mobile
connectivity, the "design of flows", and global mobility phenomena in
urbanism and architecture. Urban drift will reflect the re-politicisation of
architectural practice.

Keynote speakers Lars Lerup, Dean, School of Architecture, Houston Texas and
Irene McAra Mc William, computer related design, RCA London will discuss
mobile connectivity.

Panel themes include ­ the urban and political phenomenon of wireless ­ LAN
­ networks, (including Armin Medosch, James Stevens of consume.net, Simon
Worthington, Mute Magazine, and Shu lea Cheang, nomadic media artist),

accommodating flux and reading the urban dynamic: How can architects and
urbanists draw inspiration from rapidly accelerated urban processes: the
unplanned, spontaneous and self-organized processes in cities where
individuals are designing their own spacesŠ.
(participants include: Stefano Boeri, Multiplicities, Milan, Guido Borelli,
Director of Urban Management at the Domus Design Academy, Milan, Srdjan
Jovanovic Weiss, Normal Group ­ Belgrade, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Studio bow
wow, Tokyo). 

Further themes include: the potential of urban voids ­ Stephen Kovats,
Montreal; the "economy of scarcity" (Mangelwirtschaft); Berlin as a border
city: Uwe Rada, Die taz, and Mobility versus Place: residual/peripheral
urban spaces (with Jean Louis Paillard, Périphériques, Paris, L21
architects, Leipzig),
Finally, Tactical Mobility, will include media activists ­ knowbotic
research, analysis of Nike¹s situationist branding, and a discussion on the
reactivation of underused, or undervalued public spaces.


OPEN WORKSPACES ­ from 9th ­ 13th October, 2002 throughout Berlin.
As part of urban drift this year, we will include a number of workspaces in
Berlin - architectural practices, designers, and artists.
With Open Workspaces we mean spaces which are more than offices and studios,
rather they are hybrid spaces, incorporating exhibition spaces, laboratories
for interdisciplinary exchange and collaborations, and meeting points for
mutual exchange on the urban drift themes. These hybrid spaces are a
phenomenon very specific to Berlin.
- A map ­ provided by velotaxi - will allow for an urban drift between these
different locations between the 9th and the 13th October.

amongst the participants of the open workspaces are: lessrain, Hoyer and
Schindele architects, filesharing, raumlaborberlin, die°Alex psd (artists
and activists bringing current public space issues to the forefront through
interventions and actions on Alexanderplatz), Platoon ( a group of designers
who will place 2 shipping containers in Mitte, and provide a temporary media
lab for berlin¹s Œsub-cultural¹ scene), e27, Pfadfinderei, Standard Rad, and
Latif Oberholz.

THE NIGHTSPACE+ October 10th/11th and 12th ­ at Café Moskau, Karl-Marx Allee
34

A forum for transformational urbanism: "The inexhaustible inventory of the
streets² 

The night space will bring together talks, presentations and visuals, video
screenings, readings, and Dj¹s in the spirit of the situationist derive. The
participants are actively engaged in affecting, transforming, intervening,
in the urban landscape. Themes include: urban nomadism and mobile urban
strategies, urban curating.

PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:

Leo Villareal ­ on the portable temporary architecture of the Burning Man
Festival /  Heath Bunting, on BorderXing ­ a net art project and a radical
dérive throughout Europe, supported by the Tate Modern /  Rafael Horzon will
present BELFAS, modern facades for minimalistic urban regeneration /
Wilfried Hou Je Bek, on psychogeographies and the urban dérive with
algortithms (www.socialfiction.org) /  Jose Perez de Lama, on "Zapatista
urbanism² /  Cite des Ondes from Canada, will screen video work from their
recent festival /  Actar publishers will present their new issue of Verb (on
connection) /  A.non.mag, from Dublin, will present their anonymous
architecture magazine, for distribution in the shopping malls and the petrol
stations of the suburbs, to garner interest in new architecture and design
for suburbia /  Stefan Saffer presents mobile porch, a foldable, rollable
architecture for interventions and interactions in public spaces /  There
will be discussions on the history and the fate of the Café Moskau, left
empty for the past 3 years /  Turbo space ­ the uncontrolled urban processes
of Belgrade, will be presented in a complex interface - Datacloud by the
Stealth Group /  flora&fauna visions /

our communication partners are Vitra Design Museum Berlin (who are opening
the exhibition "Living in Motion, Design and Architecture for Flexible
Dwelling² on September 27th)
the TU Berlin (Architekturfakultät), and sponsors are art&com, supporters
are the Transmediale Salon, the Italian Cultural Insitute, the Canadian
Embassy, the French Cultural Insitute.


Initiator and Curator: Francesca Ferguson

Patroness: Kristin Feireiss, Aedes Gallery

Urban drift is financed by the Hauptstadtkulturfond Berlin.

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