Before and After AGENCY

This article offers a critical review of the conference AGENCY (November 2008), written by ‘The Agency’, a research group based in the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, where the conference was held. It was hoped that the submissions to the conference would energise the relation...

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Main Author: The Agency Research Group
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2009-01-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/703
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author The Agency Research Group
author_facet The Agency Research Group
author_sort The Agency Research Group
collection DOAJ
description This article offers a critical review of the conference AGENCY (November 2008), written by ‘The Agency’, a research group based in the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, where the conference was held. It was hoped that the submissions to the conference would energise the relationships between the humanities, the architectural profession, and society. The article sets out some of the questions that were explicitly posed, or that were implicit within, or anticipated in response to these relationships. The broad themes of discourse regarding agency from the conference are summarised in the context both of these questions, and of other themes that emerged from the papers presented: urban agencies, pedagogical agencies, social and technological agencies, sustainability, ecology, ethical, and aesthetic agencies. Alongside this strand of academic presentation and reflection, the article also discusses the conference itself as an event through and within which agency was encouraged. It raises the profile of numerous ‘fringe events’, including seminars and workshops, exhibitions, book launches and social gatherings, that were explicitly organised to extend the potential involvement of other audiences, and the dynamics of other discourses. The differences between this approach and conventional academic conferences are considered, particularly the extent to which each can involve and inform practice in the studio, and the benefits and drawbacks reflected upon. All of these influence the potential agency of architecture practitioners, educators and researchers, and will inform the future activities of ‘The Agency’ group.
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spelling doaj-art-fcbe95c760c848fdace368cd3f44ddc82025-02-03T01:04:42ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902009-01-013110.7480/footprint.3.1.703729Before and After AGENCYThe Agency Research GroupThis article offers a critical review of the conference AGENCY (November 2008), written by ‘The Agency’, a research group based in the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, where the conference was held. It was hoped that the submissions to the conference would energise the relationships between the humanities, the architectural profession, and society. The article sets out some of the questions that were explicitly posed, or that were implicit within, or anticipated in response to these relationships. The broad themes of discourse regarding agency from the conference are summarised in the context both of these questions, and of other themes that emerged from the papers presented: urban agencies, pedagogical agencies, social and technological agencies, sustainability, ecology, ethical, and aesthetic agencies. Alongside this strand of academic presentation and reflection, the article also discusses the conference itself as an event through and within which agency was encouraged. It raises the profile of numerous ‘fringe events’, including seminars and workshops, exhibitions, book launches and social gatherings, that were explicitly organised to extend the potential involvement of other audiences, and the dynamics of other discourses. The differences between this approach and conventional academic conferences are considered, particularly the extent to which each can involve and inform practice in the studio, and the benefits and drawbacks reflected upon. All of these influence the potential agency of architecture practitioners, educators and researchers, and will inform the future activities of ‘The Agency’ group.https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/703
spellingShingle The Agency Research Group
Before and After AGENCY
Footprint
title Before and After AGENCY
title_full Before and After AGENCY
title_fullStr Before and After AGENCY
title_full_unstemmed Before and After AGENCY
title_short Before and After AGENCY
title_sort before and after agency
url https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/703
work_keys_str_mv AT theagencyresearchgroup beforeandafteragency