Machines of FreedomMachines of Freedom

An event jointly organised by Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Creative Industries Fund NL brings together experts in the field of architecture and the creative industries to reflect on the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2018, FREESPACE.

What will the future of labour look like? How will disruptive changes in labour ethos and conditions influence spatial configurations, living conditions, and notions of the human body? How can new forms of creativity and responsibility within the architectural field respond to emerging technologies of automation? Floris Alkemade, Lara Schrijver en Marina Otero Verzier will start a conversation around the theme WORK, BODY, LEISURE and the ambitions for the 2018 Dutch Pavilion, commissioned by Het Nieuwe Instituut at the Biennale Architettura 2018, that will be held from 24 May to 25 November.

The event marks the start of a conversation on the theme WORK, BODY, LEISURE and the overall theme of the Biennale Architettura 2018, FREESPACE, that addresses the relation between architecture and society. Stretching out before, during and beyond the Biennale the conversations mark a committed collaboration between Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Creative Industries Fund NL to endorse Dutch designers and researchers in the field of architecture to an international audience. It serves to launch the first of three Open Calls, jointly organized by Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Creative Industries Fund NL, in order to select projects for the extended public programme of the Dutch Pavilion in 2018.

• Welcome by Syb Groeneveld, Director Creative Industries Fund NL, and Guus Beumer, Director Het Nieuwe Instituut.
• Marina Otero Verzier, Head of Research at Het Nieuwe Instituut and Curator of the Dutch Pavilion 2018, reflects on WORK, BODY, LEISURE, the curatorial concept for the 2018 Dutch Pavilion and its response to the theme for the Biennale Architettura 2018, FREESPACE.
• Keynote speaker Floris Alkemade on how urban policies could respond to or anticipate labour conditions triggered by technological developments.
• Keynote speaker Lara Schrijver on Constant's New Babylon and utopian architectural imaginaries.
• Conversation about the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2018 and the Dutch Pavilion in 2018, between Marina Otero Verzier, Floris Alkemade and Lara Schrijver.
• Q&A with speakers.
• Further information and Q&A on the Open Call by Het Nieuwe Instituut and Creative Industries Fund NL to contribute to the extended public programme of the Dutch Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2018.

Floris Alkemade is the Chief Government Architect. He provides an architect's view on urban planning projects and national, architectural policy and is authorized to advise the government on relevant issues. Floris Alkemade initiated projects such as 'A Home Away From Home' and 'Who Cares?' These urgent social assignments can be an engine for innovation, according to Alkemade.

Lara Schrijver is Professor in Architecture at the University of Antwerp, Faculty of Design Sciences, and DAAD guest professor at the Dessau Institute of Architecture in 2013-2014. Her research focus is on twentieth-century architecture and its theories. She holds degrees in architecture from Princeton University and Delft University of Technology, and received her Ph.D. from Eindhoven University of Technology. Before coming to Antwerp, she taught at Delft University of Technology and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. She was an editor for OASE for ten years, and served four years on the advisory committee of the Netherlands Fund for Architecture. Her work has been published in the _Journal of Architecture, Footprin_t, and Volume. Her book Radical Games (2009) was shortlisted for the 2011 CICA Bruno Zevi Book Award.

Marina Otero Verzier is a Rotterdam based architect. She is Director of Research at Het Nieuwe Instituut, where she leads initiatives such as Automated Landscapes, focusing on the emerging architectures of automated labour, and Architecture of Appropriation, on squatting as spatial practice. Otero is the Curator of WORK, BODY, LEISURE, the Dutch Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2018.