In situ / de visu / in motu.
Architecture, cinéma et arts technologiques
23.09 - 24.09.2011

Conference organised by :
the architecture school of Canada
in collaboration with the university of Montreal

organisation committee:
Irena Latek, Sophie Paviol, Clotilde Simond, Françoise Very, Alessandra Ponte, Stephan Kowal

invited speakers:
Manuel Abendroth / LAb[au] , Eric Sadin, Sophie Paviol, Stephan Kowal besides others

conference LAb[au] about:
Light, color, sound - the art of systems
23.09.2011 start:18h00
Universite de Montreal
Pavillon de la faculte de l'amenagement, Montreal

abstract:
LAb[au], laboratory for architecture and urbanism qualifies its artworks as system art, dividing them into categories such as: generative, analytic, reactive, performative, interactive and connective systems. Their approach thus focuses on the inherent process of their projects rather than on the formats or disciplines they involve. From this systematic thinking emerge also their artistic concepts binding all their diverse projects together; such as their use of generative processes resulting in a concepts called m0t1fs (the emergence of patterns due to autonomous systems) or reactive

processes resulting in a concept called fLUX (combination of light and flows).

Following this strict design method, which they qualify as MetaDesign, they draw a continuous line to the 20th century avant-garde. Entitled 'from industrial to meta-design' covering the Bauhaus movement, the Ulmer Schule, cybernetic and early generative art, the conference presents system art as being one important movement in the arts, architecture... throughout the entire 20th and the beginning of the 21th century.

LAb[au]'s recent and most significant projects will be set in relation to this historic and methodological understanding while displaying how systematic thinking has evolved through computation and communication technologies and how it shapes its own aesthetic thinking.