Beauty Matters; Why Architecture and Beauty Need Each Other.
A mini-symposium at the AA, convened by Yael Reisner, 28th February, 2020.
Organised by Yael Reisner with Semir Zeki, Hanif Kara and Tateo Nakajima
@ Architectural Association
Friday, Feb 28, 6:30pm
Alumni and Friends Reception followed
A mini-symposium at the AA curated by Yael Reisner – took place just before the pandemic’s lock down – celebrating the two new books: the TAB 2019’s catalogue, and the AD magazine, Sep. 2019, Wiley, UK, that I was the guest-editor, both complementing each other, discussing why beauty matters in architecture.
Beauty Matters; Why Architecture and Beauty Need Each Other
Celebrating two new publications, the AD issue Beauty Matters and the book issued by the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2019. Both takes an Interdisciplinary approach to this re-emerging interest in beauty across neuroscience, neuroesthetics, mathematics, philosophy and architecture, while discussing the work of the international architects, in both practice and academe, who are generating new aesthetics.
The event will include screening Mies.TV documentary film, Why does beauty matters? A conversation with an emphasis on the experience of beauty from the neuroesthetic point of view, highlighting why architecture and beauty need each other, and the choice of individually experiencing Paula Strunden‘s VR-MR installation The Talking Trees of Tallinn. Catering by ABB, the headline partner of TAB 2019 and this event.
The Symposium
@5.12 min. – Mies.TV film: Why Beauty Matters? About Tallin Architecture Biennale 2019
@32.09 min. – Yael Reisner
@51.09 min. – Semir Zeki
@1.14 min. – Tadeo Nakajima
@1.28 min. – Answering questions raised by the audience
Speakers bio
Semir Zeki, a British Neurobiologist who has specialised in studying the primate visual brain and more recently the neural correlates of affective states, such as the experience of love, desire and beauty that are generated by sensory inputs within the field of neuroesthetics. Fellow of the Royal Society and Foreign Fellow of the American Philosophical Society.
Hanif Kara, a structural engineer, design director and co-founder of AKT II, Professor in Practice - Harvard GSD . A fellow member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Royal Society of Arts. In 2014, Kara was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Tateo Nakajima is a director at Arup. Building on formal training and early career in violin performance and conducting, Nakajima is an internationally recognized leader in the design and planning of cultural venues and developments, with projects around the world, working with many of the highest profile architecture and design practices.
Yael Reisner, an architect, researcher, educator and curator. She curated the 5th Tallinn Architecture Biennale, TAB 2019, entitled: Beauty Matters. Simultaneously, she was the guest editor of a complementary issue of the AD magazine- September 2019 - Wiley, UK, that shares the interdisciplinary interest in beauty and its symbiotic relationship with architecture.
Images credits
AD front cover: design by CHK Design:Christian Küsters, and Barbara Nassisi, based on the image of brain activity that correlates with the experience of beauty. Copyrights Haydenbird/Getty Images.
The TAB’s 2019 book’s cover and phrases, designed by the Estonian Graphic designers Studio Studio.
To know more about the event on Archdaily.