The Architecture of Data
The curatorial project “The Architecture of Data” explores the wider consequences of the production, consumption, and storage of digital data on the built environment. Three different research focal points have been identified to investigate these relationships, revolving around the notions of ethics, materiality, and knowledge. The first line of investigation explores the ethical implications of digital infrastructures in urban space. This involves questions of justice and accessibility. Furthermore, a second thread deals with the material manifestations of data. In doing so, material resources like copper or lithium that need to be mined for digital technologies need to be addressed. Also, physical infrastructures like data centers or undersea cables that are required to circulate and store digital data will be thematized. The last research strand tackles the increasing complexity of the storage and maintenance of digital architectural heritage. In this context, the focus is set on new methods of preserving, organizing, and accessing architectural knowledge within born-digital archives.
To this end, the curatorial project is paired with the creation of the museum’s born-digital archive, which is at the forefront of debates about the future of archival practices. There are currently only inadequate preservation strategies available for digital material that put invaluable architectural production at risk of being lost. Through the current research project, new strategies for the born-digital archive will be developed that aims to become a high-quality public data set of crucial importance for future research and education.
The present endeavor constitutes a continuation of the research project and exhibition “The Architecture Machine. The Role of Computers in Architecture”, which was curated by Teresa Fankhänel at the Architekturmuseum der TUM in 2020. The exhibition examined how our profession has changed since the advent of the computer in the 1980s and the widespread use of CAD and other software. With the project "The Architecture of Data" the examination of the digital in architecture is continued and will lead to a conference and an exhibition at the Architekturmuseum der TUM in autumn 2025.
Curator | Damjan Kokalevski
Curatorial Assistance | Leo Paulmichl, Mara Starka
City in The Cloud. Data on The Ground
Architectural analysis [Modulee AR30076]
MA Level 4 SWS / 6 ECTS
Lecturers: Dr. Damjan Kokalevski, Leo Paulmichl
Podcast: The Infrastructure of Data / Storytelling as curatorial practice
Project Workshop Exhibition Design [Modul AR30347]
MA Level 2 SWS / 3 ECTS
Dozent: Damjan Kokalevski
