deadline February 24th

session 1
conserving models
Frankfurt
Monday, September 3, 2012
11:15 – 12:45h
Chairs: Barry Bergdoll, Corinne Bélier
Since the advent of the Modern Movement both architecture and its three dimensional projection through model making have gone through profound changes. New materials and new techniques have opened up new possibilities for architecture, aesthetically and structurally.  At the same time the making of models have changed radically, leaving behind the traditional craftsmanship and materials, to incorporate the most diverse -- sometimes even bizarre and unexpected – media : plastics, fabrics, resins, and other experimental materials.  Materials in models would have seemed to evolve in dialogue rather than in strict replication of the design of buildings and projects they represent, but are perhaps even more unexpected, and therefore challenging than the materials of buildings themselves.
As a consequence collections of modern architecture models are faced with a whole set of conservation issues that are unprecedented in collections of pre-20th century models.  They presents material challenges akin to those of modern sculpture, but the conservation interventions and decisions must be based on unique criteria, in which scientific and architectural criteria must come together. Collecting policies, though, are not built on conservation issues only: working and experimental study models from the studio, that were not made to last, have joined the robust finished models, often made by professional model makers, in modern collections. Do restoration dilemma affect what is collected or should they? How do practices differ between archives and museums? And what is the status of models that are specifically made for exhibitions, models in which the museum is at the origin of the model?

While previous icam sessions and conferences in Munich and Paris have addressed the history of models and their use in practice, this session seeks to focus specifically on issues of model conservation seen from any combination of historical, material, or philosophical points of view. We aim for a session that addresses the larger collecting, as well as historical, issues, inviting especially papers that transcend the documentation of a single case of a model restoration to larger views that illuminate the history of models, the history of collecting, and the larger practices of conservation in an institution. We hope for a dialogue between curators, conservators, and historians, who often meet to discuss models and their preservation and interpretation for future generations.

Contact: Barry_Bergdoll@moma.org, cbelier@citechaillot.fr, inge.wolf@stadt-frankfurt.de


session 2
reconstruction
Frankfurt
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
10:30 – 12:00h
Chair: Winfried Nerdinger
It was only with the emergence of modern architecture and the preservation of historical monuments around 1900 that reconstruction became a sensitive issue. The 1964 Venice Charter laid down an exact framework for dealing with historical building fabric, which to a large extent made reconstruction a taboo and called for a distinct difference between old and new. Although it has become similarly obsolete to the Athens Charter of 1933, even today the Charter still dominates the way many architects and preservers of monuments think. Furthermore, over the course of the past few decades it became increasingly apparent that “western” conceptions of authenticity and originality are not compatible with the cultural ideas and influences of other cultures. For this reason, in addition to the preservation of authentic material, various UNESCO resolutions, for example that passed in Nara in 1994, emphasized the importance of the “authentic spirit”, with which tradition is also passed on without Original material.

The examination is intended to question the Ideological premises that influence modern architects and preservers of monuments in their attitude to reconstruction. It also aims to debate Modernist ideas as reflected in the interpretation and significance of reconstruction in other cultures. With a view to a better understanding of a phenomenon that has been current ever since Antiquity, individual examples and controversial points of view will also be discussed.

Contact: nerdinger@lrz.tum.de, inge.wolf@stadt-frankfurt.de


session 3
strategies
Roundtable discussion
Frankfurt
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
15:00 – 16:30h
Chairs: Dietmar Steiner, Mirko Zardini
The third session deals with Strategies (Chairs: Dietmar Steiner, Mirko Zardini). The character of a typical architecture museum is difficult, if not impossible, to identify and define. What began with the collection of architecture documents and models in the 18th and 19th centuries became, with the advent of modernism and the birth of the architecture exhibition, a public statement promoting new lifestyles. However, the 1980s testified a renewed larger interest in the discipline, history, and theory of architecture and instigated the emergence of innovative, multifaceted architecture museums and institutions with a more comprehensive strategy for social and cultural communication. Today, global ecological and financial crises, in addition to increasingly digital environments, create the necessity to rethink the architecture museum as an institution. The session will center on understanding these new conditions and reflect on the current cultural position and the strategies needed for the architecture museum to maintain an effective critical role.


session 4
building > collapse > rebuilding: collections in transition
Köln, Museumsinsel Hombroich
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
16:30 – 18:00h
Chair: Laura Tatum
Archival collections in museums and other collecting repositories are being rediscovered by their home institutions as the major assets that they are – large-scale scholarly resources, potential sources of revenue, political tools.  They are also indisputably liabilities:  the cost of processing, storing, and making these assets available in both physical and digital form leads some institutions to re-think the entire endeavor of collecting at a moment when archives themselves are plentiful but resources are scarce.
This tension leads to a moment of transition for archival collections.  Some institutions – some of which are starting from the ground up -- are taking advantage of this economic moment to build their collections.  Other institutions are focusing on collapsing the boundaries between archives and their public, between historical moments and the current one, between paper and digital materials.  Many repositories are rebuilding, re-framing, re-branding their collections: de-accessioning materials to redefine a collection’s focus; networking with likeminded institutions to create larger, collaborative resources; making collections more accessible online by crowd-sourcing knowledge.

This session will focus on the theme of transition:  whether by physical necessity, pressure from outside forces, strategic refocusing, or a digital mandate, archival collections and their stewards must adapt to new demands of patrons, political entities, and the market.  Papers will be chosen based on the scope of the change in archival practice undertaken, the relevance to the larger archival community of the archival project, and the ramifications of the transition – intended or not -- for our own community of museums and repositories, for scholars, and for the public at large.

Contact: ltatum@cca.qc.ca, inge.wolf@stadt-frankfurt.de


session 5
is there anybody out there? (Audience & Education)
Gelsenkirchen
Thursday, September 6, 2012
10:30 – 12:00h
Chair: Rebecca Bailey
What do curators and designers of architectural exhibitions, as well as creators of education programs, actually know about their audiences? What does they look like today, the visitors of architectural museums and exhibitions? What do they want from exhibitions and activities, and are we meeting their expectations? How can we attract and communicate with new groups of visitors and how do we make them feel connected to what we do? These simple questions are increasingly fundamental to the existence and development of architectural museums and their programs.

The ways in which exhibitions are presented and communicated, and education activities designed, are evolving in line with visitor need. The day to day use of new media, and the changed processes of perception that results from this, are one example of how expectations are changing. Architectural museums need to recognize that they are in direct competition with many other forms of leisure time activity.

The session will be headlined by the users’ perspective and the visitors’ expectations, leading to a discussion about innovative projects of museum exhibition, communication and education. Short presentations on specific audience-focused activities are planned, which could include new ways of communication, pedagogical programs and didactic activities. All should address the key issue of audience, in particular introducing new and targeted audiences to architecture and to architectural museums and exhibitions.

The “Musiktheater im Revier”, a structure designed in the 50s by Werner Ruhnau, has been deliberately chosen as a room for discussion between presenters and their audience. The small building allows all discussion contributions and participants to act on the same level. Audience and speakers will meet on an equal footing.

Contact: rebecca.bailey@rcahms.gov.uk, inge.wolf@stadt-frankfurt.de