Venue: Moise Palace, Cres
Dates: Tuesday, May 3rd – Saturday, May 7th
The 2022 Cres – Summer School workshop raises the question of the projective character of theory. Genuine innovation in architecture, we argue, is always a project of theory. By making visible the immanent deficits, the social conditions and paradoxes of architecture, critical theory opens up architecture to the new.
This is all the more important today, when under pressure of debates about sustainability, energy balances and certifications, architecture practice is increasingly dominated by instrumental, technical reason. There is even a belief that theory can be dispensed with altogether. This, however, must be countered with the assertion that there is no institution of architecture without theory. Echoing the philosopher Christine Blättler, it can be said that theory directs the “gaze from metaphysical sense to material intrinsic meaning.” This also means that theory makes architecture possible in the first place: there is no true innovation without theory.