Noted architectural historian, theorist lectures
at Texas A&M on ‘architectures of surveillance’

'Backseat Interview' with Beatriz Colomina from TAMU College of Architecture on Vimeo.

Beatriz Colomina, a noted author and professor of architectural history and theory at Princeton University, presented “Blurred Visions: Architectures of Surveillance from Mies to SANAA," Jan. 25 in the Preston Geren Auditorium, at Texas A&M University’s Langford Architecture Center.

Colomina’s lecture, the first of eight to be delivered this semester as part of the Texas A&M Department of Architecture Spring 2010 Lecture Series, was co-sponsored by the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research.

A video of her lecture is available at http://vimeo.com/9010314.

Following her lecture, she gave a brief interview to Peter Lang, associate professor of architecture. That interview is at http://vimeo.com/9076141

Head of the doctoral program in architecture at Princeton University and director of the School of Architecture’s Media and Modernity Program, Colomina’s numerous books and essays examine the representation of architecture in print media, advertising, photography, film and television.

“Boldly interdisciplinary, Dr. Colomina offers an insightful and entertaining reading of visual culture through the lens of architectural history and theory,” said Sarah Deyong, assistant professor of architecture at Texas A&M and chair of the department’s lecture series.

“Her scholarly work eyes our modern/postmodern condition,” Deyong said. “She has uncovered fascinating archival material while focusing on questions on identity, gender and sexuality in representations of domesticity in the work of prominent architects such as Le Corbusier, Adolf Loos, Charles and Ray Eames, and Friedrich Kiesler.”

Her findings, Deyong said, address the relation of architecture to various topics such as fashion, surrealism, psychoanalysis, the medical profession, biology and technologies of surveillance.

“The history of the modern window is a history of communication,” said Colomina, about her lecture, “Blurred Visions.” “Le Corbusier’s horizontal window is unthinkable outside of cinema, the Eames House is unthinkable outside of the color slide, and the picture window at midcentury is unthinkable outside of television.”

In each case, she said, the ambition of modern architecture to dissolve the line between inside and outside is realized by absorbing the latest realities of communication.

“Today, new forms of advanced surveillance technologies operate in the city, and these models of vision act as new paradigms,” said Colomina. “The glass box has become something else altogether.”

The Department of Architecture Spring 2010 lecture series runs through April, with most lectures scheduled 5 p.m. on Mondays in the Geren Auditorium. Lecture details, with dates and speaker bios, are available on the College of Architecture website at http://archone.tamu.edu/college.

A video of the lecture may be viewed at http://vimeo.com.

- Posted: Jan. 19, 2010 -