Events

The 'spatial turn' in the history of art has had a significant impact on the understanding of artistic practice and the built environment, and the formal and political complexities of space in a broader sense.

This symposium explores the role of architectural theory and practice within multiple art histories, working across theoretical and aesthetic categories to redefine notions of space and form. From Tatlin's Monument to the Third International, to the spatial environments of LeCorbusier and Robert Morris, this interrelationship has challenged and reconfigured canonic divisions between architecture, ornament, sculpture and performance.

Within a global perspective, the 'architectural object' can be traced throughout many histories of cultural production, demonstrated within the sculpted interiors of temples and mosques, the conceptual forms of the stupa or reliquary, or the use of decorative 'architectural' within ornamental schemes.

Exploring the 'architectural object' as a recurring and ever-changing phenomenon, a two-day symposium will consider a diverse range of papers that discuss this theme across cultural and temporal divides. Keynote speakers include former Leverhulme Fellow Dr. Richard Checketts and former Henry Moore Foundation Fellow Dr. David Hulks. Architectural Objects is hosted in collaboration with the Henry Moore Institute's Hermann Obrist exhibition, marking the wide-ranging 'spatial' production of the prolific architect, sculptor and designer.

Student Papers Include:

Rebecca Wade (University of Leeds), 'The Application of Art to Manufactures: the function of architectural ornament in mid-nineteenth century British art education'

Jane Eckett (Melbourne University), 'Sculptural entities or architectural objects: the place of sculpture in post-war Australian architecture'

Ana Beatriz de Rocha (Chelsea college of art & design), 'So, what is "modern" in a modern museum of art? Theories, concepts and events which reshaped art museums' forms and functions'

Gaynor Gallagher (Birmingham City University), 'The counter monument, redeeming history'

Iuliana Gavril (University of Sussex) 'Modeling the Architectural Object or the Cosmos? Sixth-Century Byzantine Approaches to Church Architecture'

Margaret Graves (University of Edinburgh), 'Architecture Reconfigured: miniature buildings and ekphrasis in the medieval Islamic world'

James Robertson (The Manchester School of Architecture), 'The Prototype Pavilion - Modernism, National Identity and Religion in the Context of Scotland'

Richard Difford (Bartlett Graduate School, University College London) 'LeCorbusier, still life and stereoscopic space in sculptural relief and architecture'

Cecile Bendixen (Danmarks Designskole), 'The Textile Space'

Andrew Hardman (The University of Manchester), '"There is no innocent room": The Studio-Image as Art History'

Stefaan Vervoort (VU University, Amsterdam), 'Containing Architecture: On the critical faculty of sculpture in the work of Luc Deleu'

James O'Connor (Cambridge), 'Rothko Reads Michelangelo: Painterly Appropriation of Architectural Strategy'

Judith LeGrove (The University of Manchester), 'Architectural objects, exhibitionary contexts: Groupe Espace and Geoffrey Clarke's House of the Future'

Susanna Bieber (Freie Universität Berlin), 'Dilapidated Hotels, Mayan Ruins, and Other Construction Sites: Robert Smithson's Architectural Explorations'