Programme
Presentation of the series of conferences 2019
- Bernard Declève, Architect engineer, Professor CULouvain, metrolab.brussels
- Panos Mantziaras, Director of the Braillard Architects Foundation
- Vincent Kaufmann, Urban sociology and Mobility analysis professor, Director of the LaSUR-EPFL
Keynote speech
DISMAL AESTHETICS
- Fabio Merlini, Philosopher, Director of the SFIVET-Lugano, President of the Eranos Foundation since 2010.
What remains of the great design era of the last century, where innovation, aesthetics and project virtually merged to shape the dream of emancipation concerned with improving the living conditions of individuals and society as a whole? Why, just as we refer to economics as a dismal science, can we also speak today of dismal aesthetics? We are witnessing processes that have blown up this virtuous alliance, bending the shape of things that furnish our world to give in to economic calculation, and where innovation still seems limited to the technological realm alone. What does for example the refined design of our current communication tools or the astonishing and glamorous architecture of our cities hide, or aim for?
Fabio Merlini is director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET-Lugano) and president of the Eranos Foundation (Ascona). He published, among others: “L’époque de la performance insignifiante. Réflexions sur la vie désorientée” (Paris 2011); “Schizotopies. Essai sur l’espace de la mobilisation” (Paris 2013); “L’architecture inefficiente” (with L. Snozzi, Marseille 2016); “La triste esthétique. Essai sur les catastrophes de l’immédiateté” (Paris 2018).