event
Saturday 5 November 2016 ore 14:00 - 18:00

50 years of “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture”.Debate

Graziella Lonardi Buontempo Hall – admittance free subject to availability of places

“Probably the most important writing on the making of architecture since Le Corbusier’s Vers une Architecture of 1923″,
Vincent Scully

In 1966, Robert Venturi wrote Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, a fundamental text underlying a renewed interest in the history of international architecture from the 1970s: it presented a “gentle manifesto” against the “moralist and puritan idiom” of late Modernism which saw in its contradictions the vehicle for a universal and expressive poetic sentiment.

To celebrate one of the most important architectural texts of the 20th century, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its publication, , three days of events to further explore the validity and contemporary influence of Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, discussing its role within the current and complex panorama of architectural criticism.

Moderators
Luca Galofaro University of Camerino
Léa-Catherine Szacka lecturer at AHO – Oslo School of Architecture

Speakers
Maarten Delbeke Ghent University
Italo Rota Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan
André Tavares curator of the 2016 edition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennial

Photographs from Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture ad the Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown Archive at Pennsylvania University will also be projected in the Graziella Lonardi Buontempo Hall; photos taken by Robert Venturi during his time in Italy, together with videos of interviews and testimonies. An exhibition curated by Tracey Hummer and William Withaker, Anita Naughton and Jimmie Venuti, with music by Mark D’Inverno and Francoise Pachet.

50 years of “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture”

The programme unfolds over three days: it starts with the symposium on Friday 4 November, followed by the debate on Saturday 5 November and finally on Sunday 6 November, The Places of Complexity and Contradiction in Rome, a guided tour of some of the places and works in Rome featured in Venturi’s book.

Programme of events curated by Lorenzo Pignatti, G. d’Annunzio University and Carolina Vaccaro, Temple University, produced in collaboration with MAXXI, AACUPI – Association of American College and University Programs in Italy, the American Embassy in Rome, the American Academy in Rome, Roma Tre University, ‘Gabriele D’Annunzio’ University of Pescara, The Rome and Province Order of Architects, DOMUS and Salini Impregilo.