Free and open to the public

Ambiguous Territory: Architecture, Landscape, and the Postnatural is a symposium and concurrent exhibition that situates contemporary discourses and practices of architecture and landscape within the context of the Postnatural; the era of climate change, the Anthropocene, and altered ecologies. The symposium asks: In a time when humans have been fundamentally displaced from their presumed place of privilege, philosophically as well as experientially, should the disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture consider displacing themselves as well, in order to establish new affiliations and avail new ways to approach contemporary questions of design in relation to the environment?

By bringing designers and scholars from these fields together the symposium and exhibition will highlight projects and ideas that are engaged with these issues from a variety of perspectives, ranging from scale and experience to questions of matter. Participants will present research and work that use tactics of mediation to understand, imagine, interrupt, and invent artifacts that exist at the large spatial and slow temporal scale of the Anthropocene.

Ambiguous Territory will present design ideas and proposals from architects, artists, and landscape architects whose work challenges their disciplinary boundaries and long-held anthropocentric orientation and redefines the relationship between built and natural environments in an era of ecological anxiety.

Chairs:

• Kathy Velikov, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan and principal of RVTR
• Cathryn Dwyre, Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt institute School of Architecture and partner at pneumastudio
• Chris Perry, Associate Professor at Rensselaer Architecture and partner at pneumastudio
• David Salomon, Assistant Professor of Art History at Ithaca College.

Keynotes:

• Liam Young, urbanist, designer and futurist; founder of the futures think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today (tomorrowsthoughtstoday.com); the ‘Unknown Fields Division’ (unknownfieldsdivision.com) at the Architectural Association in London, and the ‘Fiction and Entertainment’ program at SciArc
• David Gissen, author, historian, and Professor of Architecture and Visual and Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts and co-director of the Experimental History Project (http://davidgissen.org/)

For a full list of speakers and bios, please visit the Ambiguous Territory symposium web page.

Ambiguous Territory Symposium Schedule

All events in Taubman College Commons unless otherwise noted

Thursday October 5th

Friday October 6th (all events occuring in The Commons)

Ambiguous Territory Exhibition

September 27th – October 18th 2017
University of Michigan Taubman College Gallery

December 2018 – January 2019
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York

The Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan is a leader in interdisciplinary education and research with a focus on creating a more beautiful, inclusive and better built environment. The college and its alumni are committed to pushing the boundaries of architectural practice, advancing global engagement, and significantly enhancing diversity in the profession. The college offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Master of Architecture, Master of Science in Architecture, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Urban Design, and PhD programs.