History as Narrative of the Present

(PhD seminar with Marina Lathouri and guest speaker Joan Ockman)

Following on the seminar ‘What is Historical?’ in Term 1, discussions with guest speakers will take place this term. Continuing and expanding on the previous sessions, the theme is ‘What is Contemporary?’.

For the first session on Thursday at 4:30pm in 37 FFF we are delighted to be joined by Joan Ockman who will talk about ‘History as Narrative of the Present‘.

Readings:

Reyner Banham, “Introduction—The Machine Age,” from Theory and Design in the First Machine Age (orig. 1960), 9–12

Manfredo Tafuri, “Introduction: The Historical ‘Project,’” from The Sphere and the Labyrinth: Avant-Gardes and Architecture from Piranesi to the 1970s (orig. 1980), 1–21

Manfredo Tafuri, Preface to Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects (orig. 1992), xxvii–xxix

Supplementary:

Fredric Jameson, “Preface: Regressions of the Current Age” and “Part I: Four Maxims of Modernity” (first three sections), from A Singular Modernity: Essay on the Ontology of the Present (2012), 1–41