The Inevitability of Mannerism

Most words we use bear meanings they acquired over time; we cannot invent a new language every time we speak. We need old words to communicate new ideas. This applies to all forms of communication, including visual. Today, a new image-making technology, Generative AI, is stunning the world--and unsettling design professionals--by making new stuff that is always and entirely derived from old stuff. Generative AI is not a spaceship; it is a time machine.

Designers know that all they create derives to some extent from precedents they draw from; but they differ in the strategies they follow to acknowledge, or hide, the precedents to which they refer. In the past, European artists developed sophisticated strategies to conceptualize the way we refer to traditions we cannot avoid, but we do not endorse. They called that Mannerism. Today's mannerists, regardless of technologies, critique the language they use, using the only language they know.

SCHEDULE

10am Welcome: Ingrid Schroder, AA Director
10.15am Introduction: Mario Carpo and Francisco González de Canales
10.30am - Session 1: The long history of contemporary mannerism: from Robert Venturi to Peter Eisenman, chaired by Mario Carpo and Francisco González de Canales.
Speaker 1: Andrew Leach, University of Sidney
Speaker 2: Lina Malfona, University of Pisa
Speaker 3: Peter Eisenman, University of Cornell
Roundtable and Q&A moderated by Marina Lathouri, Programme Director, AA History and Critical Thinking
Lunch break
1.30pm - Session 2: Mannerism Today, Part 1: The Analogue, chaired by Francisco González de Canales.
Speaker 1: Oliver Lutjens, Lütjens Padmanabhan Architekt*innen
Speaker 2. Claudia Lynch, Lynch architects
Speaker 3. Kersten Geers, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
Roundtable and Q&A moderated by Rosy Head, AA Chair of History and Theory
Break
4pm - Session 3: Mannerism Today, Part 2: The digital, chaired by Mario Carpo
Speaker 1: Matias del Campo, SPAN
Speaker 2: Amin Taha, Groupwork
Speaker 3: Mark Foster Gage, Mark Foster Gage Architects
Roundtable and Q&A moderated by Theodore Spyropoulos, Programme Director, AADRL

Please get in touch to let us know of any access requirements that you might have and how we can best accommodate these. If you are unable to attend physically but would like to participate in the event remotely please email

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Architectural Association, 36 Bedford Square, London, United Kingdom

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