Pritzker Architecture Prize Executive Director Martha Thorne will speak about some of the leading contemporary architects and their interrelations with politics and society.
The Pritzker Prize is often dubbed the Nobel Prize for architecture. The most prestigious among the existent architectural awards, it has been given annually since 1979, with Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, and Shigeru Ban among its laureates.
Looking at the role contemporary architecture plays in present-day society, Martha Thorne will explain the main criteria of choosing the winning candidates and the functions of media sources in the tool set of a contemporary architect; she will interpret the notion of «significant contribution to humanity», and will try to answer the question how architectural achievements are being apprehended in the context of intercultural, social, and political discourses. Following the lecture, a discussion involving Martha Thorne, moderator Ekaterina Rovnova, and the audience will take place.
This event is part of the discussion program within the project Architecture and Freedom, organized with the participation of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
