MAO Architecture Conference: The Institutional Act, Ljubljana 2013

Institutions are power. They channel directions, focus attention. They are, without want of explanation, important. They are vessels that collect, exhibit, examine, support and critique. They are arbiters of taste, formers of knowledge. They are the dreamweavers of our cultural imagination.

But more than capturing and captivating, and as part of their economic and intellectual capacity, many contemporary institutions of architecture are producers. Those that don’t simply process and filter but are participating in a critical form of space-shaping. In the expanded field of architecture where architectural acts are beyond buildings, contemporary institutions are more at home amongst practitioners than critics.

The conference is part of a broader ongoing pursuit to define the interconnection between architecture and exhibition-making. It seeks to contribute to the debate about the developing practice of exhibiting architecture and the role of the institutions, which commission and frame contemporary discourse. It seeks to interrogate the formation of institutional knowledge and critique its direction.

Some of the strongest and most influential acts of institutions have lead to real political and social change. In complex political globalised times when cultural direction and investment is lacking from governments, and city’s become more autonomous and culture more lucrative, institutions are becoming more significant and their role more potent.

The conference attempts to negotiate these terrains and discuss the definition and role and remit of the contemporary architectural institution.

Detailed information can be found here.