[spectre] Urban Drift 2002 conference, Berlin/D

[Urban Drift]

URBAN DRIFT 2002

9th - 13th October, Caf=E9 Moskau, Karl-Marx Allee 34, Berlin Mitte , and
workspaces throughout Berlin

>FROM FORMALISM TO FLUX -
TRANSFORMATIONAL URBANISM AND NEW URBAN STRATEGIES

Urban drift 2002 will manifest itself as a broad-based international and
trans-cultural platform made up of:
- a two-day conference - From Formalism to Flux - mobility and new urban
strategies (11th and 12th October),
- the night space - a forum for transformational urbanism -
(10th/11th/12th October 8pm-late) drawing together artists, designers,
architects, filmmakers, writers, sound artists and DJs in a mutual exchange
on architecture within the urban context.
- and open workspaces (design and architecture studios reflecting the urban
drift themes) (9th - 13th October).

Our main themes - MOBILITY, TRANSFORMATIONAL URBANISM AND NEW URBAN
STRATEGIES have emerged from the current cultural and economic situation:
Mobility, and flexibility were the buzzwords of the new economy - over the
past few years there has been a fascination with the flow of information and
capital, and the transformation in lifestyles, as a result of the new regime
of flexible accumulation. However in the face of the worldwide economic
slump, the positivism that fuelled mobility theories, the fascination with
urban density, telematics and urban nomadism, has abated: the "after the
crash" mentality has led to a fundamental rethinking based on the negative
impact of globilised, mobilised economies on the urban condition. The
freelancer, the tele-worker, are faced with the deep financial insecurities
inherent in the information economy; cities, such as those in the former
East Germany, are losing up to 20% of their population, turning the legacies
of socialist mass housing into empty shells.

This contemporary condition is the point of departure for urban drift 2002:
Is it time to turn from a fascination with form and surface, with virtual
architectures, datascapes, and the "zenith vision" of cities (Boeri) to the
real - "the inexhaustible inventory of the streets?"


TACTICAL MOBILITY / RE-READING THE URBAN DYNAMIC /
 NETWORK URBANISM
Numerous contributors to urban drift will reflect this paradigm shift taking
place in perceptions of mobility, and will draw upon the erratic, the
uncontrolled, the subjective and the unplanned in the urban landscape as a
source for new architectures. They will reveal strategies for the "economy
of scarcity", drawing inspiration from micro-production systems; working
with - and re-customizing - the resources at hand. Can the cheap and
ubiquitous tools of electronic media - mobile and wireless LAN (local area
networks) and telecommunications system - be implemented effectively to
redefine a sense of place; a sense of mobile connectivity? Is a new kind of
public space and political identification and urbanism evolving as a result?

MOBILITY VERSUS PLACE:
Post-industrial landscapes, peripheral and residual spaces, suburban
landscapes and urban voids - are becoming a major focus for a generation of
>architects and urban planners. Such overlooked, and underused areas offer
untapped potential for a more optimistic and adventurous kind of urbanism
which is reconfiguring and redefining spaces in highly individualistic ways.
We will be looking at new multi-disciplinary coalitions which "reactivate"
such urban territories. Can architecture fill the gaps in urban landscapes
opened up by economies in a state of stagnation?  Can architects make more
of less? Can a policy of temporary use in future change the machinations of
the property development sector and influence urban planning?

urban drift at CAFE MOSKAU - a city within the city
There could be no better location than the Caf=E9 Moskau in which to deal
with such issues as transformational urbanism:
One of the notable buildings of the early sixties, adorned with utopian
mosaics, and a model of the USSR sputnik - donated to the GDR - it has been
closed for over two years and by the time urban drift takes place it will be
partially renovated and open for events and temporary use and stands at the
brink of redefinition. It is a vast building that requires a celebration of
its emptiness its "in-betweeness" and has proven a powerful magnet for a
number of groups cooperating with urban drift 2002: pro qm, berlin dialog,
visomat, Fred Rubin. Atelier le Balto will make a minimal intervention in
the abandoned rose garden, Hoyer & Schindele collaborating with urban drift
to design the overall space, will include visual and audio "d=E9rives" of
numerous cities in the spatial concept, thus drawing the city into the
building.

PARTICIPANTS:
3MULGATOR / 4G2R / LILIAN AMARAL, SAO PAULO/ ATELIER LE BALTO /
ASCIIVISION:VISOMAT.INC / AUTOMATEN / IMRAN AYATA / ANETTE BALDAUF / PERRY
BARD, NY / CLAUDIA BASRAWI / WILFRIED HOU JE BEK / BERLIN TOURIST
INFORMATION / SABINE BITTER, WIEN / KATHRIN BOEHM / STEFANO BOERI,
MULTIPLICITY / BOOTLAB /GUIDO BORELLI, DOMUS DESIGN AKADEMIE, MAILAND /
=46RIEDRICH VON BORRIES, RUDE ARCHITECTURE /  ROLAND BOSBACH, DUBLIN / OLE
BOUMAN,  ARCHISAMSTERDAM / JASON BUCHHEIT, NY / HEATH BUNTING /  LUCIUS
BURCKHARDT / REBECCA CANNON, MELBOURNE / CHAMP LIBRE / SHU LEA CHEANG/ CITY
OF LAURA MARS / FRAN=C7OIS CORMIER, MONTREAL / DAG / DATENFLUG / ANDRE DEKKE=
R,
OBSERAVTORIUM, ROTTERDAM/ E 27 / DIE=B0 ALEX PSD/ CHRISTINE EDMAIER / KRISTI=
N
=46EIREISS, AEDES / ALBERT FERR=C9, BAR=C7ELONA / FLORA&FAUNA VISIONS / FORK
UNSTABLE MEDIA / FILESHARING / GARDEROBE 23 / WILFRIED HACKENBROICH, BAUHAUS
DESSAU / RANA HADDAD, BEIRUT / SIMONE HAIN / HANS G. HELMS / THOMAS HERR,
D:4 / BERND HEUER, AGENDA4-ECOMMUNITY E.V. / SUSANNE HOFMANN /  BARBARA
HOLUB, TRANSPARADISO, WIEN / RAFAEL HORZON, MODOCOM / HOYER&SCHINDELE /
KNOWBOTIC RESEARCH / CHRISTIAN HUEBLER, Z=DCRICH / FRANK H=DCLSB=D6MER / JEN=
NIFER
HURD, NY / JASON KAHN / NIKOLAUS KNEBEL / STEPHEN KOVATS, MEDIA ARTIST,
KANADA / TOM KUBLI / ANDREAS LANG / MARIELIES LANGEHENKE, EGGPRODUCTIONS /
LATIF OBERHOLZ / LAURA MARS GRP / LARS LERUP, DEAN AT RICE SCHOOL OF
ARCHITECTURE HOUSTON / LESS RAIN / L21/ LIBRE/ JOSE PEREZ DE LAMA, SEVILLA /
DAVID MANDL, NY / SVEN MANN / MANOU WMF, MICROMUSIC.NET / MAOU MAOU GALLERY
/DORIT MARGREITER / CECILE MARTIN, CIT=C9 DES ONDES, MONTREAL / PATRICK
MEAGHER / ARMIN MEDOSCH / IRENE McARA-McWILLIAM, RCA,LONDON /  ARNE MITTIG /
ALEXANDER MOERS /  ELENA MONTESINOS / ARMANDO MONTILLA, CARACAS, TORONTO /
ANN M=DCLLER / PETER NEITZKE / OGI:NOKNAUSS / HEIKE OLLERTZ / PHILIPP OSWALT=
 /
MARGARETH OTTI, WIEN / JEAN-LOUIS PAILLARD, P=C9RIPHERIQUES/ ALEXEJ PARYLA /
PFADFINDEREI & LABSTYLE / PLAJER & FRANZ STUDIO - STUDIO 38 / PLATOON / UWE
RADA /  PAUL RAJAKOVICS, TRANSPARADISO, WIEN / RAUMLABOR_BERLIN / PHILIPP
REINFELD / STEFAN RETHFELD / STEFAN RETTICH, L21,LEIPZIG / NILS R=D6LLER /
=46.R.E.D. RUBIN / ANDREAS RUBY / STEFAN SAFFER / JAIME SALAZAR, BAR=C7ELONA=
 /
PROF. DR. RUDOLF SCH=C4FER, TU-BERLIN / RUDI SCHEUERMANN, OVE ARUP/ HANNES
SCHMIDT / DOMINIK SCHWARZER / WERNER SEWING / AMIE SIEGEL, NY / NATZ
SPETSMAN / CLAUDIA SPLITT / STANDARD RAD BERLIN /  STEALTH GROUP, BELGRAD /
WIARD STERK / JAMES STEVENS, CONSUME.NET, LONDON / STUDIO 63 / STUDIO BOW
WOW, TOKYO / TAKTILABOR / LORENZO TRIPODI / YOSHIHARU TSUKAMOTO, STUDIO BOW
WOW/ TATJANA TURANSKYI / LEO VILLAREAL / VISUARTE /KAI V=D6CKLER, BAUHAUS
DESSAU / JOHN WARWICKER, TOMATO, LONDON / HELMUT WEBER, WIEN / SRDJAN
JOVANOVIC WEISS, NORMAL GROUP/ JEROEN VAN WESTEN / BARBARA WILLECKE /
WIRELESS CULTURE WORKSHOP / SIMON WORTHINGTON, MUTE MAGAZINE LONDON / NANA
YURIKO / EMILE ZILE,CLEANSURFACE.ORG MELBOURNE / U.V.A.
LIVE: AGF (LAUB/KITTY-YO/MUSORK)/LUOMO (AKA LADISLAV DELAY)/JAMIE
LIDELL(FROM SUPER_COLLIDER WARP RECORDS/RISE ROBOTS RISE), TOK TOK // VIDEO:
ALEXEJ PARYLA, FORK UNSTABLE MEDIA, FLORA&FAUNA VISIONS, PFADFINDEREI,
VISUARTE


Thank You to all partners, sponsors for their support:

mediapartners:
Archis, de:bug, Style & The Family Tunes, die tageszeitung,
http://www.fluter.de

Curatorial advisers/Conceptual partners:
Andreas Ruby, architecture critic and theorist / Jan Edler, Realities United
/ Caroline Rasp=E9, Architect, Berlin / Bettina Vismann, architect, Berlin /
Andr=E9 Bideau, Editor, Werk Bauen & Wohnen /  Berlin Dialog / pro qm, Berli=
n

partners:
aedes Galerie, Art & Com,av optics, Bauhaus Dessau,  Botschaft von
=46rankreich, Botschaft von Italien, Botschaft von Kanada, Botschaft der
Niederlanden, Datenflug, 4rk unstable media, Go! General Overnight,
Infobrick, Pro Helvetia Schweizer Kulturstiftung, LEE 101, Metadesign,
T=F6chter & S=F6hne, Transmediale, SMIRNOFF Vodka, TU Berlin, udk Berlin,
Velotaxi

>From 28th of september 2002 to 12th of january 2003 the Vitra Design Museum
Berlin presents the exhibition  "Living in Motion - Design and Architecture
for flexible Dwelling". Kopenhagener Str. 58, Berlin / Prenzlauer Berg.
Special Guided Tour for Urban Drift participants in English: friday 11/10 -
8pm. registration/information at tanja.thiele@design-museum.de / T 030 47 37
77 15. presscontact: britt.angelis@design-museum.de / T 030 47 37 77 12

=46or more information:
www.urbandrift.org.

The press conference will take part at the 8th of october at
10 am in Caf=E9 Moskau, Karl Marx Allee 34 in Berlin centre

=46or accreditations, interviews, images and more information please contact=
:

flora&fauna media, Lizzy Fichtl, Wolliner Stra=DFe 18-19, 10435 Berlin,
Telefon: 030 440 10 312, Fax:
030 440 10 313 email: lizzy@flora-fauna.de

for tickets please check: http://www.koka36.de und http://www.berlin.de