BEYOND MEDIA

VISIONS

As time moves on, the way we see and our capacity to observe things tend to change. Today we see things that were previously not even thought to exist, while other things, which were once seen very clearly, now often confound the senses and sometimes seem to even disappear altogether. Over ten years ago, when we set forth to put together the BEYOND MEDIA festival, we ourselves were observing a phenomenon in transformation. Although marginal, its manifestations seemed to take on a particular significance in better understanding certain paths that architecture was starting to take. In regard to that very phenomenon that continues to capture our attention, we currently aim to measure its most up-dated production: recent theoretical developments, demonstrations of creativity, the effects it has had in the professional world, and its consequences in social realms.

For over ten years, we have observed how that system of reciprocal exchange, in the relations between contemporary architecture and communications, can offer viewpoints that are useful in the understanding of some of the more recent developments in architecture. Within a world that is rapidly accelerating, architecture itself is attempting to renew its identity, to redefine its function and tools, and to reconfigure the borders of its areas of intervention. And it is in this progression that communications and media increasingly become part of the means with which project designers operate and develop their relations and tools that, as a result, inevitably influence a consistent part of architectural production and its widespread presence.

With BEYOND MEDIA we have chosen to insist upon the investigation of this scenario in order to effectively convey and report the architecture of our times, through a manifestation that gains strength from both widespread sentiment and independent observation.

It is with this premise that VISIONS was started as the 2009 edition of BEYOND MEDIA. A sort of invitation to an eye-examination, just like the effective graphic image conceived by Gianni Sinni, aimed directly at contemporary architecture. It seems that, in the last few years, contemporary architects have lost their ability to pursue grand visions and to construct a broad outlook that engages complex transformations of the built environment. They are unable to construct thoughts and a conscience beyond that which is usual, empirical, and visible. It is also true that the massive production and consumption of architectural images has resulted in a greater proximity to design issues by the general public. In the era of global communications, the representation of projects expresses an increasing tendency to develop new capacities to elaborate its very realm of action and to determine new systems of relations, while heading towards something that can be interpreted as a renewal of those persuasive intents that were part of humanistic representationalism. However, at the same time, those images, which are often so autonomous as to seem disassociated from representation, have altered the way people conceive of architecture; hence they seem to have affected the ability and the opportunity to generate visions, and hence theories, that are deeply rooted in our time and, at the same time, receptive to new, possible scenarios.

With VISIONS, this festival proposes a new reflection on the themes of project figuration and representation, and on the limits of our ability to observe and report that which is not in front of our eyes, in order to move towards a research of more effective visions that are extended in space and time. Visions that allow us to think about and better define the context and framework for the future.

Marco Brizzi, festival's curator


		HOME NEWS FESTIVAL NETWORK PRESS AREA SHOP CONTACT previous editions BEYOND MEDIA 2009 theme PROGRAM calendar INFORMATION CREDITS Sponsors gallery login / submit Call for entries Search Italiano	VISIONS As time moves on, the way we see and our capacity to observe things tend to change. Today we see things that were previously not even thought to exist, while other things, which were once seen very clearly, now often confound the senses and sometimes seem to even disappear altogether. Over ten years ago, when we set forth to put together the BEYOND MEDIA festival, we ourselves were observing a phenomenon in transformation. Although marginal, its manifestations seemed to take on a particular significance in better understanding certain paths that architecture was starting to take. In regard to that very phenomenon that continues to capture our attention, we currently aim to measure its most up-dated production: recent theoretical developments, demonstrations of creativity, the effects it has had in the professional world, and its consequences in social realms. For over ten years, we have observed how that system of reciprocal exchange, in the relations between contemporary architecture and communications, can offer viewpoints that are useful in the understanding of some of the more recent developments in architecture. Within a world that is rapidly accelerating, architecture itself is attempting to renew its identity, to redefine its function and tools, and to reconfigure the borders of its areas of intervention. And it is in this progression that communications and media increasingly become part of the means with which project designers operate and develop their relations and tools that, as a result, inevitably influence a consistent part of architectural production and its widespread presence. With BEYOND MEDIA we have chosen to insist upon the investigation of this scenario in order to effectively convey and report the architecture of our times, through a manifestation that gains strength from both widespread sentiment and independent observation. It is with this premise that VISIONS was started as the 2009 edition of BEYOND MEDIA. A sort of invitation to an eye-examination, just like the effective graphic image conceived by Gianni Sinni, aimed directly at contemporary architecture. It seems that, in the last few years, contemporary architects have lost their ability to pursue grand visions and to construct a broad outlook that engages complex transformations of the built environment. They are unable to construct thoughts and a conscience beyond that which is usual, empirical, and visible. It is also true that the massive production and consumption of architectural images has resulted in a greater proximity to design issues by the general public. In the era of global communications, the representation of projects expresses an increasing tendency to develop new capacities to elaborate its very realm of action and to determine new systems of relations, while heading towards something that can be interpreted as a renewal of those persuasive intents that were part of humanistic representationalism. However, at the same time, those images, which are often so autonomous as to seem disassociated from representation, have altered the way people conceive of architecture; hence they seem to have affected the ability and the opportunity to generate visions, and hence theories, that are deeply rooted in our time and, at the same time, receptive to new, possible scenarios. With VISIONS, this festival proposes a new reflection on the themes of project figuration and representation, and on the limits of our ability to observe and report that which is not in front of our eyes, in order to move towards a research of more effective visions that are extended in space and time. Visions that allow us to think about and better define the context and framework for the future. Marco Brizzi, festival's curator