HomeNewsConference on spatial culture and identity

Conference on spatial culture and identity

On 20 and 21 April 2012, in the scope of the «Spatial Culture and Identity» conference, international experts such as Martin Heller and Angelus Eisinger will be illustrating the interaction between identity and spatial culture.


On 20 and 21 April 2012, in the scope of the «Spatial Culture and Identity» conference, international experts such as Martin Heller and Angelus Eisinger will be illustrating the interaction between identity and spatial culture.

How can spatial culture created by architecture and urban construction establish a new identity for citizens? This is the question that will be addressed at this international and interdisciplinary conference. Peter Staub, associate professor at the Institute of Architecture and Planning and co-organizer of the conference, will be investigating the question of identity through exclusion or adaptation: “The key question concerning the definition of an identity-creating spatial culture is whether Liechtenstein should close itself to the outside and concentrate on inner values, or whether it should open itself up to the Rhine Valley and the region of Lake Constance, and establish its own specific place there.” If and how identity and spatial culture influence each other will be explored with the assistance of international speakers on Friday, 20 April, and Saturday, 21 April 2012. With their external perspectives, the experts will be presenting successful cases from European practice, focusing on Liechtenstein and the region.

Day 1: from the harbour city of Hamburg to the 2012 Architecture Biennale
At the start of the conference, Angelus Eisinger, professor for History and Metropolitan Culture at the HafenCity University Hamburg, and Stephan Günzel, media theorist and professor at the Technical College of Art in Berlin, will be speaking on the conference’s topic “Spatial culture and identity”. In the second part of the afternoon, Arno Ritter, head of Architekturforum Tirol in Innsbruck and curator of the Austrian pavilion at the 2012 Architecture Biennale, and Stefan Kurath, lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and owner of the urbanplus architecture office in Zurich, will be speaking on the keyword “Situations”.

Day 2: from Paris to Expo02
Saturday will start with a kick-off presentation held by the Parisian architect and artist Didier Fiuza Faustino. Barbara Piatti, lecturer at the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, and Franco Farinelli, geography professor at the University of Bologna, will explore the issue of geographical identity. Also on the agenda: Martin Heller, the Artistic Director of Expo02 and owner of Heller Enterprises in Zurich, and the architecture critic and theorist Bart Lootsma, professor at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Luxembourg, will talk about representation of identities. A concluding discussion will provide the opportunity to exchange ideas and extend networks.

Spatial culture and identity
Conference held in English
In the auditorium of the University of Liechtenstein
Day 1: Friday, 20 April 2012, from 2.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.
Day 2: Saturday, 21 April 2012, from 8.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Admission fee: CHF 15.00 per day or CHF 25.00 for both days. Entry is free for students.
Registration deadline: 18 April 2012, registration at www.uni.li/scai