Reflecting on the present.
During the 20th century we have witnessed the climax and also the decline of something that was known as modern architecture. During the last quarter of that century, the postmodern movement emerged as a response to the absence of historical considerations in the most generic modern architecture, but its almost scenographic imprint ended up leading to formalist positions such as Deconstruction or technological positions such as the so-called High Tech. If this general panorama that we propose can be understood as credible, at least from the dominant culture produced by hegemonic capitalism, the truth is that many other positions and possibilities continued to pass through the last century, like an underground and silent torrent, which would end to become more clearly visible already during the 21st century. Each of these periods has had its heroic moments and also its failures, caused, perhaps, for the same reasons: to propose itself as a dogma.
The moment we live in seems more attentive to a certain diversity, where the cultural, economic, social, environmental and technological conditions of each place seem to be molding that architectural variety, despite the homogenizing force that social networks have had in production. contemporary, at least in terms of image. From vindications of the vernacular, to ecological drifts caused by the evident planetary deterioration, they have encountered positions more interested in the technology applied to construction and with disciplinary constants such as the role of history in the project, producing that diversity to which we refer to and that finally, it is the scenario where this generation has to work. We believe that knowing and assuming the complexity of our present is not only an obligation for us, but a necessity. However, we also believe that it is not enough to simply know what current issues make up our panorama, but rather to have a position on them, always critical and attentive to the impacts that architecture has on our communities.
Our course aims to highlight diverse approaches within the contemporary practice of architecture, which allows us to have a broad panorama of action within our discipline, and in this way, contribute to our own understanding of the moment we live in. That is why we have given ourselves the task of convening people from different latitudes and realities, whose constructed work or reflective activity has the possibility of contributing to the discussion of what we believe is the main core of our activity: thinking about the present. .
The idea is that the guests prepare a speech, which addresses to a greater or lesser extent the approach of the course, and which is carried out from their own work, whether research, constructed, curatorial, editorial, cultural, teaching, etc.