Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Russia’s French Embassy, The French Institute and MARCH (Moscow School of Architecture) launch an annual learning series - French Talks – to introduce Russian audiences to leading figures in contemporary French culture. The first series of French Talks 2012 will focus on urban architecture through a number of lectures and workshops lead by MARCH.
27 October - 1 December 2012
The growing interest in the issues and challenges faced by architects working in urban environments has become an important topic in Moscow. There is now an urgent need to discuss these new ideas. The practice of French architects today, who have absorbed the teachings of French philosophers and several centuries of architectural experimentation – from the radical re-planning of Paris by Baron Haussmann to the innovative projects of Le Corbusier and Ledoux’s concept of utopianism to the Pompidou Centre – will be represented in Moscow by four architectural firms, both established and less known, in French Talks 2012.
Each guest speaker adheres to a different set of contemporary architectural principles. They will present the sometimes conflicting views of French architects on issues such as urban development, the role of buildings and people within the urban environment. All speakers share an uncompromising conceptual awareness to their projects, which demonstrates the need for an intellectual approach to architecture and urban planning projects, no matter how self-sufficient their design may seem. This intellectualism, inherited from the great philosophical schools of France, is a characteristic and prominent feature within French architecture. French Talks 2012 aims to introduce this new generation of French architects and urbanists to Russia.
SCHEDULE
27 October, 19:00. Anne-Françoise Jumeau, Peripheriques Architectes. Creating a City: Residential Space within the Metropolis
10 November 19:00. Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane, Jakob + MacFarlane. Impossibility as Technique
17 November, 19:00. Isabel Herault, Herault Arnod Architectes. Nature of the City
1 December, 19:00. Umberto Napolitano, LAN Architecture. The Possibility of Form
Admission to all lectures is free.
Venue: British Higher School of Art and Design, ARTPLAY Design Center, 10, Bld. 3, N. Syromyatnicheskaya Street, 5th Floor (Room 5.11)
French Talks is an annual series of public lectures given by representatives from leading institutions in the fields of contemporary art, design and architecture in France. Organized by Garage, with the kind support of the Embassy of France in Russia and of the French Institute in Russia, French Talks aims to introduce Russian audiences to the achievements and the on-going development of cultural life, art and design in France.
MARCH (Moscow School of Architecture). MARCH is an independent school of architecture in Moscow, developed in partnership with the British Higher School of Art and Design (Moscow) and London Metropolitan University (UK). MARCH’s master’s degree program was jointly established with the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design at the London Metropolitan University. The school’s Director is architect, educator and social activist Yevgeny Asse.
