School for Cross-Faculty Studies welcomes Architectural History Expert for Engaging Workshops
On 13th November 2024 our Liberal Arts and Global Sustainable Development departments collaborated with leading theorist and historian Francesco Proto to run a series of workshops for students and staff around the concepts of Baudrillard and the hyperreal, along with an overview of Francesco’s theoretical work and his recently published book.
About Francesco Proto
Francesco Proto is a musician, visual culturist, critical theorist, architect and Senior Lecturer in History and Theory of Architecture at Oxford Brookes’ University School of Architecture. His research interests include postmodernism, contemporary cultures, and the city. Internationally recognised for first interpreting the work of Jean Baudrillard for architecture, Francesco has a reputation as a leading theorist and historian, and some of his notable publications include Mass Identity Architecture (2006), Baudrillard for Architects (2020) and Lacan + Architecture (2024). You can find out more about Francesco from his website.
Who was Baudrillard?
Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist and philosopher who focused on cultural studies, best known for Simulacra and Simulation(1981), where he theorises the concept of the hyperreal. Some of Baudrillard’s best-known analyses examine our media ecologies and the concept of hyperreality – the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially within societies that are vastly technologically advanced. Baudrillard is a key theorist that students read on IP205: Consuming Cultures — a core module in Liberal Arts, and as part of IP317: Venice – Resistance and Representation, part of our summer Venice programme.
About the workshops
The workshops (which required no previous knowledge of Baudrillard to participate) focused on examining Baudrillard’s concepts of the hyperreal and how they applied to the physical world around us.
To lead discussions, participants in the student workshop were presented with the example of Venice to demonstrate how overtourism has transformed Venice into a hyperreal city; where artificial simulations that appeal to tourists have been prioritised over the needs of its citizens, creating a postmodern city as described by Stephanie Hom in The Beautiful Country: Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy.
Workshops attendees were then encouraged to consider how simulation and the hyperreal crop up in our daily lives and practice. Some of the examples that were discussed include the influence of Baudrillard’s The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, and the role of celebrity politicians today who make decisions directly informed by what they see broadcast on television.
In the staff workshop, Francesco explored his work applying Lacanian psychoanalytic frameworks to architecture and thinking about what sustainability means in terms of interconnected societal wellbeing (and how architecture can contribute to this). Francesco highlighted that several of these ideas were discussed at greater length in his recently-published book: Lacan + Architecture, which he edited with J.S. Hendrix.
The workshop highlighted the importance of creative transdisciplinary thinking and the synergies across all four divisions of the school.
Dr Bryan Brazeau, Head of Liberal Arts, commented:
“Dr. Proto’s work exemplifies the transdisciplinary spirit of what we do in Cross-Faculty studies; Liberal Arts, Global Sustainable Development, Design Studies, and the Institute for Global Sustainable Development are each thinking in their own way about how we can go beyond the traditional boundaries of disciplines and fixed ideas, using new theoretical approaches to describe and deconstruct our world, while simultaneously collaborating to rebuild andrecalibrate new futures together. It was a pleasure to be able to host Francesco at Warwick, and his ideas have given us many new paths to explore together.”
You can stay updated on all the latest events happening across the School for Cross-Faculty Studies by visiting our Events page.