Disegno2018 Tournai (B) 2018-Jan-18-20

Disegno 2018 – Mastery and uncertainty : the drawings of architecture
An international colloquium and exhibition, Tournai (B), 18-20 January 2018
On the premises of the new UCLouvain Architecture campus by Aires Mateus

Registration possible until January 11th at https://www.aanmelder.nl/disegno2018

“Dessin” : un ensemble de signes graphiques organisant une surface.
“Drawing” : a set of graphic signs that organize a surface.
Le Petit Robert 2014

What is the locus of control of design? Although there are many possible answers to this question, drawing is inescapable. Even so, a host of other questions emerge. For instance, if drawing is the locus of control, then what is the “work” of drawing, what is its productivity? To what extent is the medium the message? How should we navigate the dialectic between the slowness of iterations in physical drawing and the instantaneity of the machine? Are we witnessing the “Death of Drawing” (Scheer, 2014; see also the Yale symposium of 2012)? Is there a shift in the cartography of the discipline? How have schools managed recent changes? Is the profession fundamentally different now? And how should architectural theory adapt to drawing’s evolving status?

This conference/exhibition seeks to continue the dialogue opened over the past two decades about the roles of various dispositifs, ranging from the draftsperson’s mind and body (Pallasmaa, 1996) to the “distributed intelligence” supported by both manual and electronic means, both hard and soft wares.

Currently envisaged keynote speakers include : Franco Purini (I), Antoine Picon (F,USA), Juhani Pallasmaa (FI), Yves Lepère (B), Daniel Estevez (F), and Olivier Houdé (F).

Contributions, in the form of abstracts or drawings, are invited that will help us address the past, present and future of drawing as a place of exploration, decision, production, mastery and uncertainty in architectural design. Particularly encouraged are contributions that are attentive to links between theory and practice.

Dimensions that might be important include:
·       (dis)order
·       (dis)continuity
·       mastery vs. lack of control
·       determination vs. randomness
·       (im)precision
·       (un)certainty
·       the (ana)logical component of drawing
·       scale(lessness)
·       framing
·       authorship of collective drawings

Empirical areas to be addressed could include:
·       first and last drawings
·       construction drawings
·       competition drawings
·       renderings
·       physical and computer models
·       “real” and “virtual” worlds

In order to be considered for participation, please consider submitting either or both of the following :
·       a selected drawing portfolio (max. 5 JPG or PDF images)
·       an abstract of 300 words or less, in English or French

by June 1, 2017 Extended Deadline: June 15 2017, via https://www.aanmelder.nl/disegno2018. Abstracts and drawings will be anonymously selected and authors notified by July 31, 2017. Questions : disegno2018@gmail.com

Authors of accepted drawings will be asked to furnish an original or high-quality print in due time for the exhibition. It is our intention to create a dialogue between these drawings and a selection of drawings from the Drawing Matter collection (www.drawingmatter.org), in collaboration with the collector Niall Hobhouse and a small team of co-curators.

Full papers will be expected on or before October 31, 2017, in order to allow time for production of the conference booklet.

Conference organized by the LOCI Faculty, University of Louvain (B)

Conference Announcement as PDF