The tenth cycle of Architecture [discussion] Fund is a part of KAUNAS ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL (KAFe). During this cycle we will invite to have a look at the significance and influence of water as the natural element on the processes in the city.

It is no news that most cities were established on the rivers, seas or lakes tell the story of the permanent and inevitable relation of the society with the water. The proximity of natural bodies of water forms the structure of urban fabric, influences the architecture in aesthetic, functional and symbolic terms. However, the accelerating urban processes and changing of the concept of the city forces re-evaluation of the relation of the modern city with the water.

In this context the direction of mutual expansion of water and the city generates many questions. Should water (natural bodies of water) modify the established spaces of the urban fabric? How could various activities be organized on the waterfront and what could be its influence on the social processes? How does the water change with the passing seasons, how does it influence the functional and aesthetical parameters of the city and needs of its people? What role would water play in cities established further away from rivers or seas? In general, what scenarios of democratic space could be integrated at the points of contact between the water and the city 

Cycle curated by: - Vita Soltonaitė and Paulius Vaitiekūnas

The talks are held 7.00 p.m. at the Kaunas "Žalgiris" arena GALA amphitheater, Karaliaus Mindaugo av. 50, Kaunas. Entrance is free of charge.

More about Kaunas architecture festival: www.kafe2013.lt

DISSIDENCE THROUGH ARCHITECTURE

Conversations about the possibilities of critical spatial practice

In Spring 2013, the Architecture [discussion] Fund will present a series of conversations between architects, urban planners, historians and theorists, reflecting on the possibility to articulate a more contemporary relation between architecture and politics.

Architecture is entangled in a complex force-field in which political, commercial, financial, military, ideological and cultural agents are bustling against each other in ever increased intensities.

Because architecture is so strategically located in the nexus of complex networks of power, it could also, potentially, become the medium through which ideas for resistance, critique, reform or evasion could be articulated and formed.

These conversations will present architectural practices from Moscow, Belgrade, New York, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Kaunas that have, particularly in the state-socialism of the 1980s began to challenge the limits of the profession and to question the relation between the architect and the state, between client and its service provider, between ideology and built form. The conversations will present an intriguing spectrum of possibilities to resist, refuse and reinvent such relationships through architecture.

Cycle of five conversations curated by:
Ines Weizman, Jurga Daubaraite, Jonas Žukauskas

Discussions take place at National Art Gallery (NDG), Konstitucijos av. 22, Vilnius.

Discussions start at 20:00.

Events are free of charge. Discussions are recorded, video records are subtitled in lithuanian/english and uploaded to www.archfondas.lt