Richard Sennett and David Cotterrell on Urban Complexities
Dialogues
Wednesday 6 April 2016 6.30 - 8pm
The Geological Society, Piccadilly, W1
£12. Reductions £6.
Join us for the first in our series of 'relay dialogues' with sociologist Richard Sennett and artist David Cotterrell as they discuss the potential of multiple and nuanced narratives within the urban environment and the obstacles to their creation.
All too often our cities and the urban environment we inhabit are designed for people of a relatively homogenous class, existence and ethnicity. Many are becoming places of increased segregation, either through the creation of large private precincts, or with increased control of the public realm. An attitude of exclusion rather than inclusion prevails, driven by fear or a lack of empathy and understanding between people. This dialogue explores the potential of more complex narratives on the health of our cities and their inhabitants. Is there, as Sennett believes, a link between ‘social competence’, quality of life and the structure of the cities we live in? Might a city that fosters complexity and difference help to shape more tolerant individuals? Are the current social, political and economic models adequate? What role might artists play in creating more complex and nuanced narratives of the world around us, and how can this inform design?
The relay dialogue series will see one of the speakers partake in a second event this summer following the general theme of urban complexity with a new converser.
Professor Richard Sennett is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Professor of the Humanities at New York University. He has written extensively on cities, labour and culture, with recent titles including Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, The Craftsman, and The Culture of New Capitalism.
Professor David Cotterrell is an installation artist working across video, audio, interactive media, artificial intelligence, device control and hybrid technology, and Professor of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University. Recent exhibitions include Monsters of the Id at John Hansard Gallery, Southampton; Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China at MASS MoCA, Massachusetts; and War and Medicine at the Wellcome Collection, London.