ENAC Seminar Series by Prof. R. Ghosn
Event details
| Date | 05.11.2020 |
| Hour | 14:00 › 14:45 |
| Speaker | Prof. Rania Ghosn |
| Location |
Zoom
Online
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
14:00 – 14:45 – Prof. Rania Ghosn
Associate Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA
Talk title:
Terrarium of the Anthropocene
Abstract:
The climate crisis has brought large swaths of Earth––the crust, oceans, and atmosphere––to public concerns and disciplinary thought. How might urban and territorial design reckon with the scale, complexities, and interconnectedness of the earth and of techno-environmental systems? “Terrarium of the Anthropocene” charts how technological systems of fossil fuel energy have changed the earth, and imagines ways of living with legacy geographies, such as oil fields and landfills, chemical leaks, and construction debris, on a damaged planet. The contemporary terrarium learns from the Victorian Wardian Case how to become conscious of the layers of matter entombed in the Earth’s crust and the influence that they have in modifying the surface of the planet. However, while 19th century glass structure had encased a parcel of purified air for the lush miniature gardens to survive the coal-burning, soot-particle, smoke-infused environments of emerging industrial cities, the contemporary terrarium reckons with the environmental externalities that had been kept at bay––the body of geological strata that we commonly refer to as the Anthropocene. The terrarium becomes a heuristic device that incorporates the artificial, mutable, dissonant and parasitic as components of environment, design, and politics. The premise of this work, and of the book Geostories more generally, is that the design project—as expounded through drawings, narratives, and artifacts—can galvanize an essential shift towards public communication that explicates climate change as it anticipates other possible worlds.
Short bio:
Rania Ghosn is Associate Professor of architecture and urbanism at MIT and founding partner of Design Earth with El Hadi Jazairy. Her research charts the territories of technological systems to reframe the aesthetic and political concerns of urbanism in the age of climate change. Ghosn is co-author of Geographies of Trash (2015) and Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment (2018), and editor of New Geographies 2: Landscapes of Energy (2010). Her essays and projects have been published in Perspecta, Volume, Domus, Avery Review, Journal of Architectural Education, New Geographies, ARQ, San Rocco, MONU, Science Fiction Studies, Thresholds, [bracket] and as chapters in edited anthologies on infrastructure, energy, and regionalism, such as Architecture and Representation: The Arab City (Columbia GSAPP, 2016), Energy Accounts: Architectural Representations of Energy, Climate, and the Future (Routledge, 2016), and Infrastructure Space (Ruby Press, 2017). The work of Design Earth is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been exhibited in more than 10 countries at venues such as Matadero Madrid, SFMOMA; MAAT, Lisbon; Triennale Milano; and the Venice Architecture Biennale. Ghosn holds a Bachelor of Architecture from American University of Beirut, a Master in Geography from University College London, and Doctor of Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Associate Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA
Talk title:
Terrarium of the Anthropocene
Abstract:
The climate crisis has brought large swaths of Earth––the crust, oceans, and atmosphere––to public concerns and disciplinary thought. How might urban and territorial design reckon with the scale, complexities, and interconnectedness of the earth and of techno-environmental systems? “Terrarium of the Anthropocene” charts how technological systems of fossil fuel energy have changed the earth, and imagines ways of living with legacy geographies, such as oil fields and landfills, chemical leaks, and construction debris, on a damaged planet. The contemporary terrarium learns from the Victorian Wardian Case how to become conscious of the layers of matter entombed in the Earth’s crust and the influence that they have in modifying the surface of the planet. However, while 19th century glass structure had encased a parcel of purified air for the lush miniature gardens to survive the coal-burning, soot-particle, smoke-infused environments of emerging industrial cities, the contemporary terrarium reckons with the environmental externalities that had been kept at bay––the body of geological strata that we commonly refer to as the Anthropocene. The terrarium becomes a heuristic device that incorporates the artificial, mutable, dissonant and parasitic as components of environment, design, and politics. The premise of this work, and of the book Geostories more generally, is that the design project—as expounded through drawings, narratives, and artifacts—can galvanize an essential shift towards public communication that explicates climate change as it anticipates other possible worlds.
Short bio:
Rania Ghosn is Associate Professor of architecture and urbanism at MIT and founding partner of Design Earth with El Hadi Jazairy. Her research charts the territories of technological systems to reframe the aesthetic and political concerns of urbanism in the age of climate change. Ghosn is co-author of Geographies of Trash (2015) and Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment (2018), and editor of New Geographies 2: Landscapes of Energy (2010). Her essays and projects have been published in Perspecta, Volume, Domus, Avery Review, Journal of Architectural Education, New Geographies, ARQ, San Rocco, MONU, Science Fiction Studies, Thresholds, [bracket] and as chapters in edited anthologies on infrastructure, energy, and regionalism, such as Architecture and Representation: The Arab City (Columbia GSAPP, 2016), Energy Accounts: Architectural Representations of Energy, Climate, and the Future (Routledge, 2016), and Infrastructure Space (Ruby Press, 2017). The work of Design Earth is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been exhibited in more than 10 countries at venues such as Matadero Madrid, SFMOMA; MAAT, Lisbon; Triennale Milano; and the Venice Architecture Biennale. Ghosn holds a Bachelor of Architecture from American University of Beirut, a Master in Geography from University College London, and Doctor of Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Practical information
- General public
- Invitation required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Joanna Jermini-Howard / Cristina Perez