The one-day conference, Breaking Glass II - The Virtual Image, is the second in a series of three that the Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC) hosts to address Virtual Reality in relation to architecture and the arts. 

As contemporary image consumption penetrates every nook and corner of our culture, Virtual Reality re-emerges as a powerful medium in which realities are constructed and experienced. The medium raises a host of questions with regards to pictorial representation, spatial immersion, subjective experience, as much as creative opportunities for architects and artists. Virtual Reality is a perfect laboratory for spatial inquiries in relation to the construction of image-driven narratives and processes of subjectification. The machinic realm posits the human body in virtual environments whereby cognitive processes become connected to contemporary systems of production and consumption that continuously engender us as social and cultural subjects.

The conference sees experts from the fields of neurophysiology, philosophy, architecture and the arts address the status of the image in Virtual Reality and its contribution to the processes through which we individually and collectively construct concepts of reality and form personal identity.

Breaking Glass II - The Virtual Image presents:

Martine Beugnet, professor of Visual Studies, Université Paris Diderot;
Marco Brambilla, artist, New York;
Louisa Clement, artist, Berlin;
Sanford Kwinter, professor of Theory & Criticism, Pratt Institute;
Isabella Pasqualini, architect, PhD/architecture & cognitive neuroscience, EPFL;
Edward Vessel, research scientist, The Max Planck Institut for Empirical Aesthetics,
Liam Young, architect & filmmaker, Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today/Unknown Fields/Fiction & Entertainment, SCI-Arc.

The conference is moderated by professor Daniel Birnbaum, Städelschule and artistic director at Acute Art, London, and professor Johan Bettum, Städelschule.

The conference is accompanied by Narratives in Boundless Space, an exhibition comprising of two shows: Cartographies of Venice and Spatial Fabulations And Other Tales of Representation in Virtual Reality.  The exhibition opens on May 1 at 18:00 and runs daily 15:00-20:00 through May 5. 
On May 3 from 18:00 Sarah Heuberger and Hannah Katalin Grimmer, students of the Curatorial Studies Programme at the Goethe University and Städelschule, host a series of public talks in which they engage the exhibiting architects in conversation about their works.

For more detailed information on the event series please visit: 
https://www.mousonturm.de/en/festivals/staedelschule-architecture-class-sac-breaking-glass-ii-the-virtual-image/
https://sac.staedelschule.de/en

Breaking Glass II - The Virtual Image is a project of Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC) – Architecture and Aesthetic Practice in cooperation with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm.

Exhibiting architects: Prateek Bajpai, Soubhi Baraghit, Mijail Alexei Franulic Sippa, Haewook Jeong, Suyoung Ko, Soonam Lee, Panagis Marketos, Yeon Joo Oh, Jun Eui Song, Chawapol Watcharasukarn, André Zakhya.
Exhibition concept and design: professor Johan Bettum; tutor Stefan Wieland; research fellow and tutor Yara Feghali.
Curator: tutor Stefan Wieland.
Graphic design Studio 2: Jacqueline Jurt.
Unity consultancy: Marcel Schwittlick.
Project management: Sylvia Fadenhecht.

Breaking Glass II - The Virtual Image is generously supported by Dr. Marschner Stiftung, Städelschule Portikus e.V. and Grover.