Frederick Kiesler. Arts and Correalities

The one-day conference marks the 25th anniversary of the Frederick Kiesler Foundation in Vienna. In collaboration with the University of Applied Arts Vienna the event focuses on Kiesler's theory of Correalism, which he developed in the 1930s as a transdisciplinary research method in architecture and design. It was based on the latest findings of systems theory, biology and the technical sciences and has called for the combination of empirical scientific research, holistic human-centred design and the practical testing of emergent knowledge.
Kiesler's neologism contains the terms co-realism and correlation, referring to the interrelation of three environments: the natural, the human and the technical environment. The human being is at the centre of these interrelations, which Kiesler also refers to as interacting forces. Having published the ground-breaking article "On Correalism and Biotechnique" in 1939, Kiesler's research in the 1940s and 1950s focused on the critique of what he called "pseudo-functionalism" and modernism, which he saw as favouring the "arbitrary separation of architecture into art, technology and economy." With his work at the Laboratory for Design Correlation at Columbia University (1937-1941), Kiesler is considered a visionary pioneer of artistic teaching, trans-, inter- and cross-disciplinary work, as well as a trailblazer for artistic research.
The 20th century was characterised by bold future scenarios, often discredited as utopian, in which architects claimed a central role in the analysis and design of social transformation. The "new" problem awareness developed under the influence of cybernetics and systems theory led to an unprecedented expansion of associated tasks at hand.
To meet the complex challenges of the present with viable concepts for alternative "futures" the contributions extend to the work of Richard Buckminster Fuller and Victor Papanek, who paradigmatically stood for a critical and reflexive opening of their profession toward other disciplines, anticipating what is now called trans- or interdisciplinary working methods.
The programme aims at reflecting the synthesis of art, humanistic design, and technological innovation from a contemporary point of view through the lens of theory and critical spatial practice alike.


Program