Direct Urbanism - The Bartlett International Lectures

About

Streamed live on The Bartlett School of Architecture's YouTube channel, this event will be a discussion between host James O'Leary, student co-host Lia Mazzari and speaker Barbara Holub. 

This event forms part of The Bartlett International Lectures Spring 2022.

This spring, each of the International Lectures will be curated by one of the school's programmes to inspire, invent, imagine, and provoke. This event is curated by Situated Practice MA.

Abstract

Direct Urbanism: Macro-utopias and Artistic Strategies for Wishing the Impossible

transparadiso's work focuses on developing artistic tools and strategies for what they call 'Direct Urbanism'. By involving temporary artistic interventions in longer-term planning processes, 'Direct Urbanism' connects action to planning, developing socially and societally engaged planning practices that can react to unforeseen or changing parameters and needs. transparadiso creates performative situations that actively involve inhabitants and people from diverse backgrounds, returning a sense of responsibility to local users of space. 

In her lecture, transparadiso co-director Barbara Holub will show the methodology of 'Direct Urbanism' and unpack artistic strategies like the production of desires, macro-utopias or anticipatory fictions, as a basis for programmes which counteract urban developments predominantly driven by economic interests. Especially in recent projects like 'NORMAL – Direct Urbanism x 4' or 'Harbour for Cultures', transparadiso expand the questioning of 'function' in conventional urban categories by highlighting the quest for rediscovering hidden or lost poetic moments – enhancing qualities of living together and producing urban public space beyond pragmatics.   

Speaker biography

Barbara Holub is an artist, researcher and curator. She founded transparadiso in Vienna in 1999 with architect and urbanist Paul Rajakovics as a transdisciplinary practice between art, architecture, urbanism and research. She directed the artistic research project 'Planning Unplanned. Can Art Have a Function? Towards a New Function of Art in Society' (Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Art and Design, 2010-2013). She was Visiting Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2014); lectured at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)/ School of Art and Design (1997), Konstfack, Stockholm (2018), etc.; visiting scientist at HafenCity University, Hamburg (2017). Barbara was president of the Secession Vienna (2006-2007); serves on international juries and boards, such as the 'Innovation Fund for Culture in Public Space', Stuttgart (2018-); Art & the Public Sphere Journal, UK (2010-); dérive – magazine for urban research, Vienna (2002-). She is the recipient of the Austrian National Art Award (2018) and Otto-Wagner-Award for Urban Design (2007). Currently, she directs the flagship project 'WE PARAPOM!' for Chemnitz 2025/ European Capital of Culture.

Image: NORMAL - Third World Congress of the Missing Things, transparadiso, 2021