| Time: | November 22 – 24, 2018 |
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| Venue: | Universität Stuttgart - Württembergischer Kunstverein |
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50 years of architecture, theory and poiesis
50 years of the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture and Design (IGMA)
Conference and exhibition opening
2018 is the 50th birthday of the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture and Design (IGMA), This was the first large institute of architectural theory, and even today it remains Germany’s largest institute of architectural theory and design. To celebrate this anniversary, the University of Stuttgart is organizing an international conference for architectural theory from November 22-24, entitled igmade – 50 years of architecture, theory and poiesis. Simultaneously – on the evening of November 23, 2018 – an exhibition of the same name will also be celebrating its opening evening, organized in cooperation with the Württembergischen Kunstverein.
IGMA was founded in 1967 with the goal of combating the hostility to theory that developed as the result of a dogmatic and frozen modern era. It began full operation in 1968. The institute’s founder, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Joedicke, remained at the institute for over 25 years, from 1967 to 1993 – and gained international renown during this time. During this era, the institute’s focus was on the history of modern architecture and interpretations of modern buildings, but basic architectural theory and its practical implementation was also a key topic. The IGMA is an institute that has always aimed to connect design teachings and theoretical reflection and this approach schooled students’ contextual thinking, teaching them to base their actions of the question of “how do we want to live and what kind of urban environment do we want to live in?”
After Jürgen Joedicke’s retirement, Prof. Dr. Werner Durth took over as head of the IGMA, continuing his historical studies into the relationship between tradition and modern at the institute for five years, from 1993 to 1998. During this period, the institute changed its name, a change that might have been small, but was nevertheless important: „Grundlagen der modernen“ became „Grundlagen moderner Architektur“ – in order to signalize that after the wall of the Berlin wall, it might be permissible to think of architecture in the plural.
Following an “Interregnum”, in the winter of 1998/99, under Prof. Wolfgang Schwinge, the institute organized a symposium to mark the 30th anniversary of the IGMA. Prof Dr. Gerd de Bruyn then took the helm from 2001 to 2018. Under de Bruyn the institute maintained its special role, that of an interdisciplinary institute, renowned for both pushing and crossing the conventional boundaries of construction, and its commitment to teaching theory and practice, art and technology, nature and cultural science. Under de Bruyn, these fields of study extended to include phenomena such as fashion and new media, the analysis of the scientific character of architecture and the theory and practice of construction using living plants.
Initiated by Prof. Dr. Stephan Trüby, the new head of the IGMA since April 2018, the exhibition and conference offer new insights into 50 exciting years of architecture and the IGMA, a timespan that has illuminated both the overlapping elements and distances between theory and design.
University of Stuttgart / Württembergischer Kunstverein