an Athens event of the Space of Democracy and the Democracy of Space network supported by the

ESRC (Economic and Society Research Council) UK

The two distinct dimensions are evident both in political theory/practice and in theorisations/enactments of space and architecture. The un-built, for example, has been historically associated with unrealized projects that may be attributed to a wide range of reasons; from the ‘circumstantial’ ones related to financial or construction technology restrictions, building regulations or policy particularities, to the less apparent social, historical, political issues, and the cultural stereotypes operative in a given context. On the other hand, the un-built also denotes so-called utopian or visionary spatial/architectural projects and the operation of drawing or writing as a critical tool. The un-built is that which cannot be built or awaiting to be built as much as that which is drawn and discussed but not meant to be realised. It indicates a state of abjection and repression, designates a condition of potential conflict and, at the same time, holds the promise of transformation. The un-built is therefore more than a mere void or empty space. If we consider it as ‘an agitated state of a seemingly balanced immobility in which all possibilities remain open, and all states of attachments can be potentially enacted’, it might form a basis for thinking the contemporary relation between democracy and space. This is especially the case given the prominent theorisations of dynamics between emptiness and fullness in democratic politics (as highlighted by a series of contemporary theorists from Claude Lefort and radical democratic theory onwards), psychoanalytic theory (mostly in the Lacanian tradition), theories of space, etc. Here emptiness and lack is not an accident or anomaly that needs to be masked and covered over but a limit, a mark of contingency and finitude that needs to be ethically negotiated and politically marked. At the same time it stimulates the desire for the new. In these traditions the problematic of the un-built meets that of the unconscious, the abject, the unrepresentable, raising the issue of exclusion and its ‘administration’ in democracy and post-democracy (locally and globally). The event will assume the form of a series of interactions between theoreticians, urban theorists and architects that will theoretically address issues related to the democracy of space in historical and contemporary contexts, and activist groups/teams or initiatives that work within the conditions of the un-built to create a space for democratic exchange and mobility in the current circumstances. ‘Speakers’ and ‘groups’ will be provided with equal time (30 minutes) to develop their arguments. The conference language is English.

Conference Programme

Friday 19/12/2008 (18.00-21.00)

18.00-18.10

Introduction by the coordinators: Dr Maria Theodorou, and Dr Yannis Stavrakakis

18.10-20.00

Interaction I

City and the collective: memory

Chair: Dr Demetrios Konstantios, Director, the Athens Byzantine and Christian Museum

18.15-18.45

Key note speaker: “Collective Memory under Siege” Prof Christine Boyer (Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Princeton University)

18.45-20.00

Panel Discussion

“The Thessaloniki architecture competition of the Jewish Community”

Co-ordinator: P. Astreinidou Participants: A. Lada, P. Nikiforidis, B. Cuomo, R. Sakellaridou, M. Papanikolaou, M. Kokkinou, A. Kourkoulas. Respondent: Prof Christine Boyer

20.00 -20.30

Exhibition opening of the Thessaloniki architecture competition of the Jewish Community

20.30 reception 

Saturday 20/12/2008 (10.00-19.00)

10.00-13.00

Interaction II

Territories and Networks

Chair: Dr Helge Mooshammer (Networked cultures) Goldsmith’s London

“The SIT Manresa Project” Sitesize, Spain (a collaborative projects platform on new territorial and landscape geographies)

“From swarm to multitude: The un-built space of connected localities” Dr Dimitris Papalexopoulos (Associate Professor, School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens)

Interaction III

Spaces of engagement

Chair: Prof Peter Mörtenböck (Networked cultures), Goldsmith’s London 

“On the Urban Void” Urban Void/Astiko keno, Greece (group whose activities focus on the urban void) 

“City of Glass -from the universality of space to the particularity of place: the long march to an Amsterdam CBD” Merijn Oudenampsen, NL (urban sociologists and activist, co— founder Flexmens.org.) 

13.00-15.00 Lunch break

15.00 – 18.00

Interaction IV

Space, Democracy and the Political

Chair: Kaliope Kontozoglou, 3SK Stylianidis architects

“Pitch Africa project” A-topia research, NY-London (non profit, conducts research into the interdependence of informatics and ecology, encouraging environmentally responsible action)

 “Political Theories and Practices: The Spatial Challenge” Dr Yannis Stavrakakis (Associate Professor, School of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) 

Interaction VI

States of attachments - utopias

Chair: Myrsine Zorba, Cultural theory and policy, Greek Open University

“A School of Architecture for All” Dr Maria Theodorou representing SARCHA, Greece (non profit, aims to ‘educate’ the public, promotes research projects that examine architecture’s relation and connection with the diverse and political aspects of individual and collective activities)

“On the Limits and Life in the City of the Future” Prof Elias Zenghelis, Brussels (Professor of Architecture, Berlage Institute, NL; one of the original founders of OMA in the 70’s)

18.00-18.30

Guest speaker: “Space, law, democracy'” Prof Costas Douzinas UK (Law Professor, Vice-Master and Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London)

18.30-19.30

Round table

Coordinator: Prof Alexandros-Andreas Kyrtsis (Professor of Sociology, University of Athens)

 All groups interacting with all speakers and the public