AUR 2014/15 History and Theory Lecture: Karin Šerman

Linije aktualizacije suvremene hrvatske arhitekture
Lines of Actualization of Contemporary Croatian Architecture

Intenzivne prilike globalizirajućeg moderniteta nameću akutna pitanja adekvatnog načina arhitektonskog operiranja u takvim višestruko nestabilnim uvjetima. Ugroženim se pokazuju ne samo poslovično osjetljivi aspekti lokalnih tradicija i kulturnih identiteta, nego i sama sposobnost arhitekture da održi iole zadovoljavajuću mjeru vlastite relevantnosti i konzistencije.

U takvim okolnostima traže se novi vidovi arhitektonskih praksi – onih koje se pokazuju sposobnim nositi s nepredvidivim uvjetima, potvrditi se dovoljno relevantnim u svojim rezultatima i tako uputiti na moguće nove načine smislenog i održivog djelovanja. Upravo takve fleksibilne prakse te načini na koji se one formiraju u okviru recentne hrvatske arhitektonske produkcije, tema je ovog predavanja. Diskusija će pokušati detektirati potencijale novih pristupa na konkretnim realiziranim primjerima.

The intense conditions of globalizing modernity raise flagrant questions as to the adequate modes of architectural operation within such radically unstable circumstances. At risk are not only those delicate issues of local traditions and cultural identities but also the very capacities of maintaining any dream of sincere architectural relevance and consistency.

In such context, new veins of architectural practices are sought for – those that would manage to cope with the pervasive unpredictability, possibly leading to relevant results and indicating new modes of sustainable functioning. Precisely such apt flexible practices and how they are recognized within the recent Croatian architectural production will be the topic of this lecture. The discussion will seek to locate the novel approaches and inquire into their potential on a selection of concrete case studies.

14. Venecijansko bijenale arhitekture Fundamentals. 2014./ Hrvatski Paviljon – Izložba Fitting Abstraction (Podešena apstrakcija) | Foto: Marko Mihaljević

Karin Šerman teoretičarka je arhitekture i profesorica arhitektonske teorije na Arhitektonskom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Predstojnica je Katedre za teoriju i povijest arhitekture i voditeljica modula Arhitektonska misao doktorskog studija Arhitektura i urbanizam Arhitektonskog fakulteta u Zagrebu. Teoriju arhitekture predaje i na Sveučilištu u Splitu.

Studij arhitekture završila je na Arhitektonskom fakultetu u Zagrebu 1989., magisterij znanosti u području arhitektonske teorije stekla na Sveučilištu Harvard (Cambridge, SAD) 1996. godine u klasi profesora K. Michaela Haysa, a doktorirala na Sveučilištu u Zagrebu 2000. pod mentorstvom akademika Borisa Magaša.

U svom se radu posvećuje pručavanju fenomena recentne arhitektonske teorije i istraživanju moderne i suvremene hrvatske i svjetske arhitekture i kulture.

Radove publicira u brojnim domaćim i inozemnim znanstvenim i stručnim časopisima (Oris, Arhitektura, Prostor, Čovjek i prostor, Centropa, Architektura & urbanizmus, ARCH i dr.), te knjigama: Project Zagreb: Transition as Condition, Strategy, Practice, autora Eve Blau i Ivana Rupnika, Actar & Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Barcelona, 2007.; Team 10 East: Revisionist Architecture in Real-Existing Modernism, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 2014.; Architecture and Ideology, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. Sudjeluje na brojnim konferencijama i seminarima (Cornell University, Harvard University, ETH Zürich, Hamburgische Architektenkammer, Univerza v Ljubljani, Politecnico di Milano, IUAV – Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, Museum of Contemporary Art Warsaw, University of Pecs).

14. Venecijansko bijenale arhitekture Fundamentals. 2014./ Hrvatski Paviljon – Izložba Fitting Abstraction (Podešena apstrakcija) | Foto: Marko Mihaljević

Trenutno je angažirana u međunarodnom istraživačkom i izložbenom projektu BauNet / Bauhaus: Networking of Ideas and Practice, u pripremi velike izložbe o Bauhausu i njegovom utjecaju u Jugoistočnoj Europi u Muzeju suvremene umjetnosti u Zagrebu u svibnju 2015.

Godine 2014. izbornica je hrvatskog nastupa na 14. Venecijanskom bijenalu arhitekture Fundamentals. U sklopu hrvatskog nastupa, a na tragu zadane teme Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014, s autorskim timom kurira izložbu Fitting Abstraction (Podešena apstrakcija) o hrvatskom arhitektonskom modernizmu u zadanom razdoblju.

Također, u sklopu Bijenala s grupom koautora organizira i vodi znanstveni skup New Tendencies and Architecture: Abstraction, Ambience, Algorithm o međunarodnom umjetničkom pokretu Nove tendencije sa sjedištem u Zagrebu 1960-ih i njegovom doticaju sa sferom arhitekture.

Za koncept cjelokupnog hrvatskog nastupa na 14. Venecijanskom bijenalu arhitekture nagrađena je nagradom Neven Šegvić Udruženja hrvatskih arhitekata za publicistički, kritički, znanstveno-istraživački i teorijski rad na području arhitekture za 2014. godinu.

14. Venecijansko bijenale arhitekture Fundamentals. 2014./ Hrvatski Paviljon – Izložba Fitting Abstraction (Podešena apstrakcija)/ Konceptualni dijagram| Foto: Marko Mihaljević

Karin Šerman is an architect and architectural theorist, Professor of Architectural Theory at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Architecture. She is the Head of the History and Theory Department and Head of the Architecture Theory Module of the doctoral program Architecture and Urbanism at the Zagreb Faculty of Architecture. She also teaches architectural theory at the University of Split.

She graduated in architecture from Zagreb Faculty of Architecture in 1989, received her Master in Design Studies degree in History and Theory of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1996, with K. Michael Hays as advisor, and her PhD from the University of Zagreb in 2000, with Boris Magaš as advisor.

Her work focuses on modern and contemporary architecture and culture, and current theoretical research. She has written extensively on Central European and Croatian architectural history and contemporary architectural scene.

Her works are published in numerous architecture journals (Oris, Arhitektura, Prostor, Čovjek i prostor, Centropa, Architektura & urbanizmus, ARCH) and books: Project Zagreb: Transition as Condition, Strategy, Practice, by Eve Blau and Ivan Rupnik, Actar & Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Barcelona, 2007; Team 10 East: Revisionist Architecture in Real-Existing Modernism, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 2014; Architecture and Ideology, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. She regularly participates in architectural conferences and symposia (Cornell University, Harvard University, ETH Zürich, Hamburgische Architektenkammer, Univerza v Ljubljani, Politecnico di Milano, IUAV di Venezia, Museum of Contemporary Art Warsaw, University of Pecs).

14. Venecijansko bijenale arhitekture Fundamentals. 2014./ Hrvatski Paviljon – Izložba Fitting Abstraction (Podešena apstrakcija) | Foto: Marko Mihaljević

Currently she is involved in the international research project BauNet / Bauhaus: Networking of Ideas and Practice, working toward an exhibition on the Bauhaus and its influences in Southeast Europe scheduled for May 2015 in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb.

In 2014 she was the commissioner and curator of the Croatian entry at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale Fundamentals. With her curatorial team she set up the exhibition Fitting Abstraction, in which they answered to the outlined theme Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014 by analyzing the hundred years of Croatian architectural modernism.

With the group of authors she also organized the international panel New Tendencies and Architecture: Abstraction, Ambience, Algorithm, elaborating the international art movement Nove tendencije which emerged in Zagreb in the 1960s, focusing particularly on its encounter with the sphere of architecture.

For the overall concept of the Croatian entry at the Biennale she was awarded this year’s Croatian Architects Association’s award Neven Šegvić for theoretical and research work.

14. Venecijansko bijenale arhitekture Fundamentals. 2014./ Hrvatski Paviljon – Izložba Fitting Abstraction (Podešena apstrakcija)/ Konceptualni dijagram| Foto: Marko Mihaljević