WALKING IN CIRCLES: A LECTURE BY STALKER—OSSERVATORIO NOMADE

A lecture by Stalker—Osservatorio Nomade (Rome, Italy)
Stalker is a collective of architects and researchers connected to the Roma Tre University who came together in the mid-1990s. In 2002, Stalker founded the research network Osservatorio Nomade (ON), which consists of architects, artists, activists and researchers working experimentally and engaging in actions to create self-organised spaces and situations.
Stalker have developed a specific methodology of urban research, using participative tools to construct a ‘collective imaginary’ for a place. In particular they have developed the method of collective walking to ‘actuate territories’, which for them is a process of bringing space into being. Stalker carry out their walks in the ‘indeterminate’ or void spaces of the city, which have long been disregarded or considered a problem in traditional architectural practice. Referring to their walking practice as ‘transurbance’, the group views it as a collective mode of expression and a tool for mapping the city and its transformations, of gathering stories, evoking memories and experiences, and immersing themselves with others in a place. They use this knowledge and experience to address urban planning and territorial issues, focusing especially on the interstices of the contemporary city-region. Starting with the edges of the Tiber river on the outskirts of Rome, Stalker have since used this method in many other cities including Milan, Paris, Berlin and Turin.
www.osservatorionomade.net
Giulia Fiocca
Architect, indipendent researcher and activist on urban and social trasformation focusing on the marginal realities and communities, leftover spaces, informal urbanism and self-organised social and cultural practices. Based in Rome. Studies among Rome, Vienna and Barcelona (Master ‘Metropolis’ in Architecture and Urban Culture at UPC). Since 2006 part of Stalker/Osservatorio Nomade partecipating several projects: Campagnaromana (2006), Rieres//Rambles in Barcelona (2006), Campus Rom: learning from Roma people and back (Rome, Serbia and Macedonia) (2006-08). Since 2009 promoting with Lorenzo Romito Primaveraromana, a Common Design Project for Social Chance in Rome. Visiting professor at architecture faculty, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (2010). Co-founder of Stalker Walking School (2012).
Lorenzo Romito
Indipendent researcher on urban changes, artist and activist.Architect (1997), prix de Rome, Academie de France, Villa Medici, Rome (2000-1). Co -founder of Stalker in 1995 (www.stalkerlab.org), Osservatorio Nomade in 2001 (www.osservatorionomade.net), Primaveraromana in 2009 (primaveraromana.wordpress.com). Stalker Walking School in 2012 (walkingoutofcontemporary.com). Under those firms the work has been exposed and published worldwide.
Teaching experiences, walks, seminars and workshops with several schools including T.U. Delft, I.U.A.V. Venezia, H.E.A.D. Geneve, Parsons, the New School of Design New York, H.F.G. Karlsruhe, E.T.H. Zurich, Roma Tre Univ.
Aldo Innocenzi, was born in 1964 in Rome, where he lives and works. In 1995 he was among the founders of Stalker / ON. His work is centered on the creation of situations, which may favor changes in the urban fabric. Through strategies of participatory planning, his work re-qualifies spaces, relations and political practice.
Among his works: Stalker attraverso i territori dell’attuale (Roma,1995), Ararat-Campo Boario (Roma, 1999-2002), Immaginare Corviale (Roma, 2004-2006), Savorengo ker(Roma, 2008-2009), Museo Relazionale (Genazzano, 2012).
Pia Livia Di Tardo
Designer for public communications, specializing in graphic arts and visual communications. Di Tardo has a Law degree, and a Master’s degree in Multimedia Design from IED in Rome. She is Coordinator for public communications and web design for the Strategic Plan for the Metropolis and Region of Bari, Puglia, Italy.
Visual-graphic and web designer for the Laboratory of Urban Art Stalker / ON Rome, collaborated with the Faculty of Architecture of Roma Tre, the University IUAV of Venice (Arts and Design) and in the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and Frosinone.

Estonian Academy of Arts held a conference at the Parliament building on September 18, 2015. Speeches were given by experts from Estonia and abroad, including:
Yoko Alender, Architect, alumnus of EAA, member of the Culture Committee of the Parliament of Estonia
Tarmo Soomere, President of the Academy of Sciences, Estonia
Mart Kalm, Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts
Bonne Zabolotney, Vice President of Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Shery Wills, Dean of Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design
Maria Lantin, Director of Research, Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Ionel Lehari, Alumnus of EAA, Head of Communications Agency Creative Union
Toomas Tammis, Dean of Faculty of Architecture, EAA
Jan van Boeckel, Professor of Art Education, EAA

Lúdmila Žoldáková will deliver her talk “Estonian Mythology as a Source of Inspiration” on Tuesday, 20 October at 5 p.m. at Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia pst 7, IV floor, room 405). The talk will be held in English. Q&A session after the talk.
In September Lúdmila delivered a talk about Slovak fashion design and Slavic mythology as a source of inspiration. Now it is time for Estonian mythology! During her stay in Tallinn Lúdmila has been working on a small collection of headwear inspired by Estonian traditional costume and folk legends, especially those about the skies. Hämarik and Koit, Birds Way (Milky Way), Moon and Star, etc. These stories are probably familiar to you. How about taking a look at how a foreigner’s eye sees them?
Free entrance. All are welcome!
Lúdmila Žoldáková is a Slovak illustrator and fashion designer. Since 2008 she has been running her own fashion brand LU:KA known for her feminine and colourful style. Lúdmila’s recent fashion projects has been inspired by history, traditions, mythology, books and fairy tales. Lúdmila is committed to ethical business values such as animal rights, local production, recycling and up-cycling. In the creative process Lúdmila is looking for freedom – “I love to be creative in the process of creation, not planning every single detail. I want to be carried away by colors, stories, materials and different techniques.” Lúdmila will stay in Estonia till 30 October.
In the beginning of March Tallinn Creative Hub announced with K.A.I.R – Košice Artist in Residence an exchange project for creative professionals for staying two months in Estonia and Slovakia. In August and September an Estonian product designer Johanna Tammsalu was in Košice and since the beginning of September a Slovakian fashion designer Lúdmila Žoldáková has been in Tallinn.
The talk is organised in collaboration with Tallinn Creative Hub and Estonian Academy of Arts.
The exchange project is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.
Info:
Creative Education of Tallinn Creative Hub: Dagmar Kase, Project Manager / dagmar.kase@kultuurikatel.ee / +372 58 874 921 / www.kultuurikatel.ee
Estonian Academy of Arts, Department of Fashion Design: Marit Ahven, Docent / marit.ahven@artun.ee / www.artun.ee

Autumn semester’s final thesis defendings take place:
Art and Design defending is on 18.11.2015 at 13.00 at Kiriku plats 1-201
Scenography MA defending is on 11.01.2016 at 10.00 at Lembitu 12

On October 14, 2015, Anna-Stina Treumund, a PhD student of the Art and Design studies will open her exhibition titled “Dread” at the Hobusepea gallery. All interested are welcome.

Estonian Academy of Arts, Institute of Art History is delighted to present a public lecture of Prof Kenneth Frampton (Columbia University, New York) on Wednesday, October 14th 6PM at the Museum of Estonian Architecture.

Kenneth Frampton is an architect and architectural historian whose Modern Architecture. A Critical History from 1980, currently available in its fourth, significantly updated edition, has become one of the most canonical accounts of 20th century architecture. With remarkably broad scope, Kenneth Frampton introduced to the Western-centered discourse of modern architecture developments by the Russian avant-garde, Alvar Aalto and Scandinavian modernism, experimentations in colonial contexts as well as contemporary developments on the global scale. Besides architecture history, Prof Frampton has been a prolific commentator on architecture of our own age. Having moved from Great Britain to the United States in 1965, Kenneth Frampton started teaching firstly in Princeton University and from 1972 onwards in Columbia, forming the most innovative circle of architectural theorists of the time together with Peter Eisenman, Manfredo Tafuri, Rem Koolhaas, Diana Agrest ja Anthony Vidler. The magazine Oppositions, established at Columbia in 1973, became the leading platform for innovative architectural thought, aiming at introducing critical theory to the discussions on architectural practice and culture in the wider sense. Frampton’s own positions have been informed by Hannah Arendt’s social critique as well as Martin Heidegger’s conceptions of locality, thus he has always emphasized the social responsibility of architectural production as well as the specificities of context, aiming to resist the tendency to view buildings as representations or commodity. The 1983 essay Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six points for an architecture of resistance, pleading for a critical locality as a countermeasure against global homogenization and scenographic architecture, retains its relevance even today. These principles continue to inform Prof Frampton’s recent publications including monographic volumes on Alvaro Siza (2000), Le Corbusier (2001), Tadao Ando (2003), and five North American architects (2012).

The open lectures of the Institute of Art History are supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
Professor Kenneth Frampton’s public lecture is organized in co-operation with Aalto University Helsinki.

Photo: Jeff Barnett-Winsby, 2007

EKSIG 2015: Tangible means – experiential knowledge through materials
25-26 November 2015
International Conference 2015 of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge at Design School Kolding & University of Southern Denmark.
REGISTRATION OPEN!
EKSIG 2015 will address the theme of “Tangible means – experiential knowledge through materials”. It will be convened by the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG), and hosted by Design School Kolding and University of Southern Denmark.
PLEASE NOTICE: EARLY BIRD FEE IS DUE ON 25 OCTOBER!
CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Professor Lene Tanggaard (University of Aalborg, DK)
Professor Carole Collet (Central saint Martins, University of the Arts, UK)
Dr Elvin Karana (Delft University of Technology, NL)
We expect to launch the full program medio October.
REGISTRATION OPEN NOW AT:
http://experientialknowledge.org.uk/fees_2015.html
EKSIG 2015 aims to provide a forum for debate about materials as a means for knowledge generation by professionals and academic researchers, exploring the role and relationship of generating and evaluating new and existing knowledge in the creative disciplines and beyond.
In recent years many creative disciplines have shifted focus from what is produced to why it is produced and how it is used. This includes a growing interest for combining craft traditions with design and other related issues such as sustainability. As early as 1983 Schön defined designing “as a conversation with the materials of a situation” (Schön 1983: 78) and the designer as a maker of things even though it is acknowledged that the concept of design can be broader than ‘making things’. Also in the 1980s Manzini (1989: 17) pointed out a need for further development of cognitive tools and cultural references in order to catch up with the technical and scientific development of materials. Recently Karana et al. (2014) have expressed a need to study not only the functional but also the experiential side of materials. Thus, material knowledge is not only about ‘scientific’ facts such as functional and technical properties. It also encompasses personal, experiential, cultural, emotional, environmental and social aspects. In many disciplines, materials pervade all parts of practice, from the processes to the creation of artefacts and/or other kinds of physical manifestations and the interpretation through other professionals, such as curators, critics, historians etc.
With this conference, we wish to explore different ways in which experiential knowledge through materials can be given more appropriate consideration within the framework of research. This may include for example investigations into the nature, aims, validity, evaluation and/or necessity of different modes of communication and exchange.
Organisers: Nithikul Nimkulrat (Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia), Kristina Niedderer (University of Wolverhampton, UK) and Anne Louise Bang (Design School Kolding, Denmark)

Estonian Academy of Arts Faculty of Architecture “Open Lecture Series”

Kanuti Gildi Saal (Pikk 20, Tallinn)

Marjan Colletti (1972) is an Italian architect, scientist and theorist. He graduated from Innsbruck University, where he is the head of the Institute of Experimental Architecture. He acquired a PhD at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, where he is a doctor level professor, director of computing and holds his own studio. He has been teaching in multiple universities in Asia, Europe and America and his writings on design research theories have been extensively published. In addition he has edited the 80th anniversary issue of Architectural Design named Exuberance, that dealt with digital virtuosity in contemporary architecture. He has curated tens of exhibitions and participated at more, multiple Venice Architecture Biennales among others. He is a founder and partner of the London based architecture office marcosandmarjan.

marjan-colletti.blogspot.com

At the Open Lecture Series well-known architects, theoreticians, critics and urbanists from all around the globe give talks to offer fresh perspectives on architecture, design, urban development and critical thought.

The lectures are open to all students and professionals in the fields of architecture, urbanism and other spatial studies, as well as to the broader circle of those interested in the future of our living environment. The lectures are held in English and they are free of charge.

The lecture series is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.