Host: Central Academy of Fine Arts
Organizers: CAFA Visual Art Innovation Institute, School of Architecture of CAFA, CAFA Art Museum, Media Architecture Institute China
Date: November 13 – 29, 2018
Venue: Central Academy of Fine Arts
MAB (Media Architecture Biennale) is among the world’s largest and most high-profile academic brand events in the field of media architecture. Since 2008, five biennales have been held in Berlin in Germany (2008), Vienna in Austria (2010), Aarhus in Denmark (2012/2014), and Sydney (2016). This year’s biennale MAB18 is hosted by CAFA, running 17 days from November 13 to 29, including workshop, thematic forum, conference, exhibition and award ceremony.
MAB18 will bring together representatives from Europe, the Americas, Australia, as well as
well-known domestic colleges & universities, art organizations, scientific institutions and innovative enterprises. On the occasion, world’s top scholars, designers, artists, industry experts and urban construction managers of the media architecture and related fields, will lead participants to experience an idea storm of design and innovation, to jointly seek answers to the problems and challenges faced by media architecture in the global and Chinese cities, and to explore the great potential of media architecture in social, cultural and commercial fields in the construction and development of smart cities.
The Theme of MAB18: Media Architecture – Digital Infrastructure at the Scale of the Hybrid City
At present, digital infrastructures, large or small, have already merged into placemaking and smart city initiatives as the familiar “media architecture”. At the micro level, interconnected displays and mobile phones can show useful information to residents, while at the macro level, the huge building facades and screens can represent the image and identity of an entire city. Then, how can the various scales of media architecture connect with the new-type interfaces between physical space and digital world, so as to build and support the structure of society, economy and culture will be an important developing direction in the future. MAB18 is to bring together top researchers, designers, and city builders & managers to discuss the utility and scale of interconnected media architecture in the local and global contexts.
I MBA18 AGENDA I
I CONFERENCE I
Date: November 15 – 16, 2018
Venue: Academic Lecture Hall, CAFA Art Museum (simultaneous interpretation)
Keynote Speakers:
Bruce Ramus, Art Director of Ramus Illumination, Adjunct Professor of University of Sydney
Daan Roosegaarde, Artist, Inventor
Usman Haque, Artist
Dan Hill, Associate Director at Arup, and Head of Arup Digital Studio
Ben Van Berkel, Architect, Founder and Principal Architect of the architectural practice UN Studio
Valentin Spiess, Chairman, CEO, and Member of the Executive Board of iart ag
The exterior of CAFA Art Museum
I SYMPOSIUM I
1. Enterprise Innovation Symposium
Presenter: Zhang Xin, School of Architecture of Tsinghua University,
M.Hank Haeusler, University of South Wales
14:00 – 17:00, November 13, at the Audio-visual academic lecture hall, CAFA (simultaneous interpretation)
2. Digital Public Symposium
Presenter: Glenn Harding and Emma Shearman
09:00 – 12:00, November 14, at the Audio-visual academic lecture hall, CAFA (simultaneous interpretation)
3. Urban Media Art Symposium
Presenter: Susa Pop and Tanya Toft
14:00 – 17:00, November 14, at the Audio-visual academic lecture hall, CAFA (simultaneous interpretation)
The audio-visual academic lecture hall
I Workshop I
Each workshop is limited to 20 persons – in the classroom on the ground floor, building 7 of CAFA Art Museum, on November 13
I Exhibition I
Date: November 13 – 29, Venue: building 7 of CAFA (School of Architecture), Art Museum
Contents: 1. The exhibition is based on the review of the award-winning works in the past five rounds of MAB conference, to present the grand occasion and winning works of the previous five biennales held in Berlin in Germany (2008), Vienna in Austria (2010), Aarhus in Denmark (2012/2014), and Sydney (2016) in Australia. 2. It also shows the achievements of Chinese urban media architecture, in which the massive expansion of media architecture from monomer to complex has reached a new height in China in a global context.
Academic Lecture Hall, CAFA Art Museum
MAB EXHIBITION OPENING & DIGITAL CALLIGRAFFITI PERFORMANCE：
Date: 18:00, November 13, Venue: building 7 of CAFA (School of Architecture)
l MAB18 AWARDS CEREMONY
Date: November 16, 2018, Venue: Exhibition Hall 7F, building 7 of CAFA
I MAB（Media Architecture Biennale）Introduction
MBA (Media Architecture Biennale) is held every two years to give a concentrated display of the highest level of theoretical research and urban practices in the field of media architecture worldwide, which has a history of ten years and exerts a significant influence in the world. In addition to MAB, Media Architecture Institute (MAI) also organizes Media Architecture Summit (MAS) and Media Facades Summit (MFS) every year, which have been opened eight times so far. MAB, MAS and MFS have become the international media architecture brand events with the most international influence and future direction.
Over the past ten years, leaders of the cutting-edge research, teaching and design team representing the world’s media architecture have participated in MAB and gave keynote speeches, including Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT Senseable City Lab, Ignatius Jones, Creative Director of the “Vivid Sydney” festival, Gerg Stone, Strategy Director of ARUP Digital Services, Rafael Lzano-Hemmer, international renowned artist, and so on. At the same time, MAB has also carried out practical construction and exhibition of media buildings and installations in Sydney, Vienna, Beijing, Toronto and other cities, forming a wide social influence.
In June 2016, at the MAB16 Media Architecture Biennial in Sydney, Dr. Gernot Tscherteu, Founder of MAI, Prof. Hank Haeusler and Prof. Martin Tomitsch jointly announced that MAB18 would be held in Beijing, China, with Prof. Chang Zhigang, head of China branch, as the chairman of MAB18.
l MAI（Media Architecture Institute）
The Media Architecture Institute was founded by Dr. Gernot Tscherteu, Dr. Oliver Schuerer, Dr. DI. W. Leeb and Dr. Martin Tomitsch in 2009. It aims to supplement the undertakings of universities and research institutions through flexible and focused study activities and binds industry, education and academia together. The institute has four branches in Vienna, Sydney, Toronto and Beijing, in which the Beijing Branch (MAIC) was set up in 2015 with Prof. Chang Zhigang from CAFA as the head of the branch.
l MAIC（Media Architecture Institute China）
“MAIC Media Architecture · China” focuses on new forms of smart city space, shapes intelligent life and builds the innovative platform of science and arts to realize cross-border cooperation and barrier-free communication between scientific institutions and art & design organizations, science & technology discipline and art & design discipline, as well as scientists, engineers, artists and designers, and to promote a deep integration and updating of cultural & artistic industry and scientific & innovative new industry.
Additional Information:
About CAFA Visual Art Innovation Institute
In 2015, the CAFA Visual Art Innovation Institute was among the first batch of institutions selected for the Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre Program. It was also the only art academy amongst 13 colleges and universities. The institute adopts an innovate interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary mechanism, whereby this platform enables the removal of existing bottlenecks of scientific research and teaching to pursue the interlinking of research, learning, and production that is forward-looking and in line with the developments of times. In this way, it can build a collaborative innovation model that is oriented towards achieving a fourfold synergy between the scientific frontier, cultural heritage innovation, industry, and major regional development needs, thus building two "1+4" models. The first goal is to create a "visual culture system" for Beijing, enhancing Beijing's visual identity, and incorporate the city's cultural development strategy. The second goal is to bring in internationally renowned masters with "Visual Beijing" as a blueprint, driving the research, learning, and production development of Beijing's related professional colleges and universities. In term of content, 'Spatial Beijing', 'Visual Beijing', 'Fashion in Beijing', and 'Life in Beijing' will be the main four components of the institute. In terms of organisation and structure, the Central Academy of Fine Arts will lead and build the platform for teaching, learning , and production, enabling the achievement of resources sharing between four of Beijing's colleges and universities, namely Beijing University of Technology, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing Film Academy, and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.
