I oA Sliver Lecture Series 2024/25

Imaginaries have a formative power; they can be probable, plausible, possible, or preferable. They conceive meanings for individuals, communities, societies and relations with the other. They are activated by real or mediated worlds. They operate as structure, interface or as simulations. They challenge established knowledge systems and expand our ways of knowing. Imaginaries wide and strange. In what ways do imaginaries operate as tools that propel propositions to the following questions: “What is the role of architecture in regards to contemporary cultures and societies, urbanization processes, identity policies, migration, climate change, environmental challenges, and disruptive technologies? How do we want to live and co-exist? What will our future look like, and how will that be manifested spatially, physically, and virtually? What role do digital developments and technology play in this? What is the role of architecture in tackling questions on aesthetics and radical beauty?”

Philosopher and social critic Cornelius Castoriadis saw radical imagination as a creative force that shapes our perception of reality and our capacity to envision new possibilities. On a bigger scale, his notion of a social imaginary represents the imagination of a society, manifested in its way of living, seeing, and making its own existence.

In the context of design cognition and design education, imagination is vital to what Nigel Cross describes as the “designerly ways of knowing,” fostering the human ability to meaningfully compose the world we are within and evolve design and architecture as a discipline of possibilities.

Therefore, this lecture series, Applied Imaginaries, is curated as an atlas of projects, practices, and strategies that turn imaginaries into design endeavors, some brought into the world and others manifested as speculations yet to be fully formed or actualized.

Curated by: Camille Breuil, Anna Gulinska, Maja Ozvaldic, Giacomo Pala, Galo Moncayo.

Bio: Li Han and Hu Yan founded Drawing Architecture Studio (DAS) in Beijing in 2013. Deriving inspiration from architecture, art, popular culture, and daily life, they explore the possibilities of images, space, and urban studies through various mediums, including drawings, models, installations, comics, and books.

Li is a National Class 1 Registered Architect in China and a graduate of Central Academy of Fine Arts and RMIT University. Hu is a graduate of Concordia University. Both Li and Hu have served as Visiting Critics at the Syracuse University School of Architecture since 2023.

DAS’ works have been exhibited in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Venice Architecture Biennale, Shenzhen / Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture, and many others. Their works are also included in the collections of institutions including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, M+ in Hong Kong, White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, Macao Museum of Art, and Pingshan Art Museum in Shenzhen. DAS has received the 2021 DAM Architectural Book Award, 2018 WAF World Architecture Festival Architecture Drawing Prize, 2016 RIBA Journal Eye Line Drawing Award, and the 2013 The Beauty of the Books in China Award. Their publications include A Little Bit of Beijing, A Little Bit of Beijing · Dashilar, The Joy of Architectural Drawing, Hutong Mushroom, and Apartment Blossom.