The State of Europe

Stephan Petermann from OMA/AMO and David Mulder from XML Architecture Research Urbanism both give a presentation on the ways in which they ‘build’ on the ‘State of Europe’. Both agencies have been conducting long-term research into the European Union’s meaning, identity, and various modes of representation.

There is currently an ever-present European crisis and rapidly changing public opinion about the meaning and importance of ‘Europe’. Robert Schumann – said by many to be the founder of Europe – stated that, although we are by definition Europeans, the awareness that a sustainable unity for Europe is ‘unity in diversity’, this would be drowned out by the demise of the nation state’s political mandate.

There is an over-emphasis on political and monetary union and seems to be little regard for the underlying sentiments of the loss of one’s identity. An identity paradoxically based on our unique cultural diversity. This collage of nation states is now under pressure from, among other things, the financially globalised world, migration to ‘Fortress Europe’, bureaucratic decision-making, and reduced social solidarity.

In the city where the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992, one finds many aspects that go beyond national borders because of its inhabitants’ trans-boundary way of life. In The State of Europe series, we examine the condition of a continent.

1ste lecture: 22 February
On 22 February Stephan Petermann from OMA/AMO and David Mulder from XML Architecture Research Urbanism both give a presentation on the ways in which they ‘build’ on the ‘State of Europe’. Both agencies have been conducting long-term research into the European Union’s meaning, identity, and various modes of representation.

OMA/AMO Stephan Petermann
Stephan Petermann is an architect and partner at AMO, the think tank of OMA, Office for Metropolitan Architecture founded in 1975 by Rem Koolhaas. Established in 1999 as the mirror image of OMA, AMO operates independently within the company, focusing on the expansion of architectural production and broader issues of culture, with respect to identity and organisation. Besides his work for AMO, Petermann teaches at the Aarhus School of Architecture.

XML David Mulder
David Mulder van der Vegt founded in XML in 2008 together with Max Cohen de Lara. The office takes a research-driven approach, carefully analysing the core of a project into a powerful design. XML is internationally known for creating innovative designs, including the ‘United Natures’ office tower for the United Nations and the ‘Art Square’ art space in Hong Kong.

In 2016, XML published ‘Parliament’, a book comparing the spatial structures of the plenary halls of all 193 UN Member States’ Parliament buildings. The same year, XML, in collaboration with Jurgen Bey, designed a new interior for the European Council in Brussels, as part of the Dutch presidency of the European Union. Between 2014 and 2016, XML ran the interdisciplinary research programme Designing Democracy at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.

Moderator: Saskia van Stein
Date: 22 February, 20:00 – 22:00
Language: Dutch
Location: Bureau Europa, platform for architecture and design.

THIRD LECTURE ON 15 JUNE: INDIRA VAN 'T KLOOSTER

Indira van ‘t Klooster lectures about the European signature of the built environment. What is the political context in which current architecture expresses itself in Europe? What are the similarities between its different countries and cultures? Can one define a typical European signature of the built environment? What is ‘European’? By demonstrating architecture is a phenomenon affecting a much broader, Europe-wide context, Van ‘t Klooster’s lecture seeks alternative inspiration sources, training, and avenues of experience for modern architecture and how it respond to what is happening economically, politically, and socially.

Indira van ‘t Klooster is the founder, editor, and chair of A10 New European Architecture, an organisation of architectural journalists, critics, and bloggers, which serves as a platform for activating European architecture within the broader contexts of economics, politics, Philosophy, sociology, and art. A10 New European Architecture follows on from A10 Magazine, which she headed between 2010 and 2016, and informs on all architectural developments at a European level and reflects on current European themes. Van ‘t Klooster is the author of Reactive! Innovators of Dutch Architecture (Trancity, 2013) and Forty and Famous: 10 Interviews with Young European Architects (Amilcar Publishers, 2016). Van ‘t Klooster worked for Architectuur Lokaal and has sat on many juries, such as the 2016 Media Architecture Prize in Hungary, the 2015 Architect of the Year in Estonia, the 2014 Young Italian Architect Award in Italy, the 2014 Dutch Maaskant Prize, and the 2013 Doolan Prize in Scotland. She is regularly invited as a guest speaker throughout Europe.

In 2017, Van ‘t Klooster and Pakhuis De Zwijger will launch a two-month talk show, Architecture Now, about the current state of architecture in the Netherlands.

Date: Thursday 8 June, 20:00–22:00
Language: Dutch
Admission: free
Location: Bureau Europa

image: NOTO