The Architectural Symposium "Tel Aviv-Yafo: Old-New Metropolis", an initiative of the Czech Presidency of the European Union, co-organized by the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design and the Israeli Association of United Architects in partnership with cultural institutes and embassies of the EU states, is part of the cultural manifestations dedicated to the centenary of Tel Aviv. The Romanian presence to the event in supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv.
"In addition to the historical identity of Tel Aviv-Yafo as a city recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site, the merging of Tel Aviv and Yafo into a single municipal jurisdiction has pushed to the fore a distinct constellation of social, cultural, and political questions and concerns. After 100 years Tel Aviv-Yafo not only exemplifies the enduring material and morphological struggle between old and new in the modern urban context but also stands as an exemplary case study for some of the most pressing concerns affiliated with socio-cultural diversity and modern identity.
The symposium embraces this multi-layered complexity particular to Tel Aviv-Yafo aiming to inspire a new dialogue by convening a select yet diverse group of international and local architects, intellectuals, and artists whose individual expertise will serve as the foundations for reexamining the unique cultural-spatial dynamics of this city with an eye toward the next 100 years. Particularly because Tel Aviv-Yafo is home to multiple and distinct ethnic communities the metropolitan region holds a strong attraction to people from a wide array of ethnic, religious, social, and political backgrounds, raising a set of key critical questions: What in fact holds cities and urban societies together, and what forces drive them apart? What roles do ethnicity and cultural diversity play in the context of Tel Aviv-Yafo? What forward-thinking endeavors could modify the idea of the Old-New Metropolis with regard to integration strategies?"
In lectures, discussions and theoretical interventions, the invited guests (from Israel, Romania, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany) will be asked to explore fundamental urban notions and spatial practices affiliated with the broader question of identity in the contemporary urban milieu.
Romanian architects Dorin Ştefan and Claudiu Barsan Pipu, in their study Stol deasupra Bucureştiului / Flocking Over Bucharest (a revised and updated version of the presentation made in June 2008 for the London Festival of Architecture), look upon the way "the relationship between the individual and the group, the continuous informational transfer between the two entities (global to local and vice-versa), lead to an overall optimization of the entire process, [...] allowing for dramatic changes of the global vision from the data infusion of each individual. [..] The outcome of the experimental investigation was the revealing of new urban potentials, of a completely new nature compared to the ones obtained through classical analysis, which have contributed to the extension of the tool inventory when it comes to dealing with the complexity of the urban structure of Bucharest."
Entry upon invitation only. Limited seats. Please confirm your participation at: office@icrtelaviv.org.
