Radical Pedagogies. Reconstructing architectural education
WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION 7
The exhibition “Radical Pedagogies. Reconstructing Architectural Education” surveys most interesting experiments undertaken in architectural education that questioned and fundamentally reshaped the postwar field of architecture.
Previous edition of the exhibition was awarded a Special Mention at the 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture. Warsaw edition, which will be on show at the Faculty of Architecture of Warsaw University of Technology, will present new case studies from East Europe, Africa, Oceania, South and East Asia, opening up new insights into pedagogical experimentation in the postwar years.
“Radical Pedagogies” is an ongoing collaborative research project led by Professor Beatriz Colomina with PhD students in the Princeton University School of Architecture. This project explores pedagogical experiments that played a crucial role in changing architectural discourse and practice in the second half of the twentieth century.
Derived from the Latin radix — that which belongs to the root, foundation or origin of something — researchers use the term radical to denote those pedagogical experiments that questioned and fundamentally reshaped the postwar field of architecture. These new modes of teaching shook foundations and disturbed assumptions rather than reinforced them. They operated as small endeavors on the fringes of institutions but had long-lasting impact. Much of architectural teaching today still rests on the paradigms these experiments introduced.
The five-year-long research project has included seminars, interviews with key protagonists, archival research, guest lectures, and contributions from scholars around the world. The project casts the teaching and learning of architectural history and theory as an experiment in itself, exploring the potential of collaboration—in what is often considered an individual field—and addressing the challenges and opportunities of new media.
Earlier versions of the "Radical Pedagogies" exhibition were presented at the 3rd Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2013) and the 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture, curated by Rem Koolhaas (2014), where it was awarded a Special Mention.
The exhibition at the Warsaw Faculty of Architecture, accompanying the 100th anniversary of the faculty, opened up the project to new directions and a new density of global interconnections. Africa, South East Asia, Oceania and East Europe become the protagonists, opening new insights into pedagogical experimentation in the postwar years. Exhibition will present 80 case studies prepared by 60 researchers from around the globe.
Exhibition - which accompanies the main show of this year Warsaw Under Construction, "Reconstruction Disputes" - provokes debate about formation of next generations of architects who - similarly to their predecessors from the times of reconstruction of Warsaw from the after-war debris - will play a decisive role in shaping architectural and urban landscape of our city.
