2023-2025 RESEARCH AGENDA
No/
Memories
Societies are in constant dialog with their past. They keep looking back at it, trying to remember it, while at the same time continuously forming a new conception of it. In a way, societies keep re-writing their history with reference to their present and the conditions that it poses. The same is true for scientific and artistic disciplines and therefore,
architecture and design are also in constant dialog with their past which they keep re-evaluating. In that context, references are always an important part of any design process. Organizing and accessing those memories was always a challenge that was addressed by various devices and practices. Lately, that role is increasingly assumed by social media protocols that provide through their feeds an abundance of reference material. At the same time, big data makes sure that we can store almost everything and be able to reference it whenever needed. However, it remains rather unclear who defines those referencing mechanisms, both in terms of their function and their accessibility. And while social media feeds still require some interaction with the user, Artificial Intelligence tools are taking the whole question of referencing several steps further. Therefore, while references are becoming more important than ever, our ability to control them is constantly diminishing. The ability to have ‘all’ memories available, paradoxically, leads to a state of having no memories at all. Within that framework of references, memories and their loss, the program will look during its three semesters at specific urban areas of the city of Thessaloniki. It will try to identify their problems, their politics and aesthetics, and their memories – or their lack thereof. At the same time to develop new tools, through digital technologies, that will allow the re-evaluation of existing processes and will generate proposals that while addressing specific problems will engage design as a field of possibilities.
>> The advanced design post-graduate program offers an expansive approach to contemporary design processes through an interdisciplinary approach that engages both design as a process at large and the tools that form those processes. During the three semesters of the program, students will develop advanced design strategies, they will apply them towards specific design problems and they will acquire a proficiency in a large array of tools – including but not limited to digital tools of design, representation and fabrication.
