Architecture & The Media. 1st European Conference on Architecture and the Media

The 1st European Conference on Architecture & the Media is conceived as an event to meet and exchange experiences on the dissemination of architecture. It is addressed to journalists, cultural institutions and organisations, communication professionals, architects and architecture lovers.

The event will take place at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona on 14th and 15th May, during the Barcelona Architecture Week 2018.

This first edition is focused on the architecture perceived as culture and dissemination of both core values and most cutting-edge topics through the media, either general-interest press and specialized press, printed and online.

- What makes architecture alluring for the media? Why is it such a challenge for architecture to gain visibility in the cultural section of a newspaper?

- What presence does it have in other sections as politics and economy?

- How significant is the role of the media in making architecture understood and appreciated by broader audiences?

- What makes a case of success in the collaboration between institutions and the media in the diffusion of architecture? 

Architecture & the Media is organised by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe with the support of Creative Europe as part of the dissemination program of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

The curators of the event are Miriam Giordano, communication consultant and director of Labóh communication agency - and Ewa P. Porębska, architect and editor in chief of Architektura-Murator.

In the words of the organizers:

"This meeting aims to focus on the quality of journalism in the dissemination of architectural culture, its understanding for the different audiences and the construction of social debate on issues that are relevant to architecture," explains Anna Ramos, director of the Mies Foundation van der Rohe.

“Architecture is highly relevant and present in our daily lives, but we have not yet achieved that this 'implicit' relevance becomes public awareness as it happened in other disciplines. From the point of view of communication professionals, I would like to see some day that people understand when a building is 'good architecture' or know how to evaluate when a new square improves the life of the neighborhood.” highlights Miriam Giordano, curator of Architecture and the Media

“Many changes have occurred in the media in recent years. The role of the online media has grown; the influence of the social media has increased significantly. Yet regardless of their form: paper, TV, radio or the Internet, the responsibility of the media as the so-called fourth estate is pivotal, also in the field of architecture and shaping the environment,” adds Ewa P. Porębska, curator of Architecture and the Media. “I believe that an international meeting of writers and editors engaged in architecture may have at least two dimensions, an ideal and a practical one. On the one hand, it allows us to present our most important goals and ideas; on the other, it fosters a debate on the condition and future of architectural media.”