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Prominent Russian architectural school, Strelka Institute, suspends activities in protest of Ukraine invasion

2022-02-28T14:53:00-05:00

As casualties mount in Vladimir Putin's war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine, the prominent Moscow-based Strelka Institute for Media Architecture and Design has issued a statement condemning the loss of life and announcing that it has suspended all academic activities until further notice.

The 12-year-old institute, which in the past has contributed to the country’s design for the 2014 Venice Biennale, is amongst the most influential architecture schools in eastern Europe and now joins several other academic and cultural institutions inside Russia in expressing their opposition to what the government still insists on calling a “special military operation.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Strelka Institute (@strelka_institute)

Strelka's Director of Education Varvara Melnikova and Program Director of The Terraforming Benjamin Bratton also shared their views via social media, joining a chorus of protests that has extended into academia and other...

Strelka announces "The Terraforming," a research program headed by Benjamin Bratton

2019-08-27T17:45:00-04:00

The Moscow-based Strelka Institute has announced a new research program geared toward exploring the issues of planetary urbanism, global energy infrastructure, “geotechnology,” and speculative design, among other topics.

Directed by professor and theorist Benjamin Bratton, the three-year program will be tuition-free and will explore the topics above as part of a multi-disciplinary effort involving both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The initiative, The Terraforming, seeks to approach the future inhabitation of planet Earth a literal world-building exercise. A website announcing the program explains: "The term 'terraforming' usually refers to transforming the ecosystems of other planets or moons to make them capable of supporting Earth-like life. However, the looming ecological consequences of human activities suggest that in the decades to come we might need to terraform our own planet if it is to remain a viable host for Earth-like life."

A focu...

Strelka Institute announces enrollment campaign for postgraduate education programme

2016-10-04T14:40:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Strelka Institute.

During the new academic year Strelka students will answer the question: ‘What has become “The New Normal” in the modern world?’

Strelka Institute for architecture, media and design launched the enrollment campaign for the postgraduate education program. The theme of the 7th academic year at Strelka is The New Normal.

Research will focus on the new contemporary condition, which has emerged because of the rapid development of technology — including machine intelligence, biotechnology, automation, alternative spaces created in VR and AR — and define new paths for urban design and development.

The New Normal is:

30 international students from Russia and abroad
monthly stipend of $600
5 months from February 2017 to July 2017
for experts in media, architecture, design, urbanism, creative industries (artists, scenarists, writers, filmakers), and other fields like software studies, digital media, social sciences
in English

Students will learn the met...

Guardian's Soundbites Interview with Benjamin H Bratton

2011-04-05T13:17:19-04:00

'Innovation' has become a content genre, a weird form of reality television, and one that is equally divorced from reality. For me, the way back to reality is an end-run. Always an end-run. 'Innovation' has become a content genre, a weird form of reality television, and one that is equally divorced from reality. For me, the way back to reality is an end-run. Always an end-run.