English

WS-2016

 

Dancing is a cultural, social and artistic expression as old as humanity itself. In this semesters‘ elective, we will examine the evolution of dedicated spaces revolving around dance. We will trace the beginnings of spatial and architectural specificity in spaces for dancing on both an urban and architectural level. We will examine the social, political and economic context of these spaces at the time of their creation and will seek out similarities and disparities among a wide spread of cultures and geographic areas. The elective is very much an exploratory course about a subject not yet researched widely. As the Physicist Richard Feynman once famously said, it‘s about “the pleasure of finding things out”. While clearly a typological research, past electives have shown that the presentation of case studies from the wide array of cultures mirroring our DIA student body has provided unique and fascinating insights that go far beyond the spatial and architectural realm. The elective will be divided into three parts: A few informal lectures by myself and one or two guest speakers to introduce the subject. The main body of the course are case studies presented by students. A field (day-)trip will be offered. Finally, a graphic result will be produced that is then presented at the end of the semester in a small exhibition at an art venue in Berlin. For the presentation we will have guest judges.

 

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