Tamar Levinger: Before It was Digital – Exhibitions as a Prism of Digital Ideas in Architecture

Tamar Levinger: Before It was Digital – Exhibitions as a Prism of Digital Ideas in Architecture

While the pivotal technological innovations of the last two decades have been pushing the use of computers in architecture into new territories, the integration of computers into architectural design has a much longer history that spans over six decades.

The 1960s were characterized by many worldwide exhibitions expressing a radical mindset regarding the possibilities inherent in integrating computers into art, design, and architecture. This research looks in depth at ideas that came up in three major worldwide exhibitions that took place during the late 1960s: Cybernetic Serendipity (London, 1968), the Pepsi Pavilion (Osaka, 1970), and Software, Information Technology: Its New Meaning for Art (New York, 1970).

Using qualitative and quantitative tools for analyzing the exhibition catalogues, three main concepts were identified revealing the central axis of that period: ‘random’, ‘control’, and ‘interaction’. Each of the ideas presents a different angle to the transformations brought about by the computer. Together, they express the period’s mindset and enable a new look at the roots of digital architecture.

Research supervisors: Associate Prof. Aaron Sprecher and Assistant Prof. Or Aleksandrowicz

Zoom: https://technion.zoom.us/j/3033189976