08 Nov 2010

Baltan Laboratories present An Exciting Evening at Home: Lecture on Architecture and Media, Eindhoven

An international line-up of speakers, a big-screen projection, two vinyl record players, drinks and snacks – what more is needed for a perfect evening at home? With the current developments in media technology we are almost able to feel at home wherever we go. On November 8th, home is Baltan Laboratories. Oliver Schürer, Tatjana Djordjevic and Marc Maurer will pay a visit and share their thoughts on the relation between media and architecture.

In examining the transformation of our everyday environments we are searching for the potential of digital media in architecture and urban space. Tactics are driven by energy distribution and consumption, macro and micro scale mediatisation as well as commercialisation of awareness, and the upcoming fusion of digital and green technologies. Oliver Schürer, Senior Scientist at the Department of Architecture Theory, Vienna University, discusses those forces as manifold potentials for media architecture and media urbanism to contribute to the emergence of a new urban practice.

On top of China's busiest underground metro station 'Shanghai People Square', architect Tatjana Djordjevic has developed a design for the world's first 'Instant Pleasure Hyper Building'. With daily traffic of 400.000 people, this enormous building offers space to 'surf' through other people's fantasies (mostly equal to their own). Very similar to the World Wide Web, one travels from public spaces (Virtue City) to more private ones (Sin City). The way we use media is translated into architecture, resulting in an exciting building, surprisingly based on mainly square angles.

Almost two decades ago, architect Marc Maurer designed a residential house based on sampling techniques, inspired by the Beastie Boys album 'Paul's Boutique'. Today, he presents his design for the 'Baltan House', which he developed together with his teammates at Maurer United Architects and Baltan Laboratories. A minimal house that can function as a residence (private) or a media pavilion (public). As he puts it in his own words: 'The home is nothing but a highly condensed pavilion nowadays…'

* This Baltan Session is inspired by the Beastie Boys, An Exciting Evening at Home With Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Capitol Records, 1989.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Where: Baltan Laboratories, Glaslaan 2, SWA-8, Strijp-S, Eindhoven
When: 8 November 2010, 19:30-21:30