“We may live within [architecture], and worship without her, but we cannot remember without her.”
- John Ruskin, Seven Lamps of Architecture
TORONTO, October 19, 2009 -- Shelley Hornstein, associate professor of architectural history and urban culture in the Department of Visual Arts at York University, will deliver the Walter L. Gordon Lecture at York on November 17.
In her talk, titled Losing Site: Architecture, Memory and Place, Hornstein will use several case studies to demonstrate different ways imaginary and real representations of buildings and places trigger, create and shape memory. Her presentation is an overview of her forthcoming book of the same title.
Hornstein argues that architecture is best remembered by experiencing a place. The buildings of an experienced environment are vividly preserved in memory. Yet when the architecture is no longer present - for example, if we’ve left the place or the architecture has been demolished - or if a site is only ever experienced second-hand through photos and descriptions, people carry on remembering those locations.
Hornstein’s investigations are premised on a series of questions. How does architecture, as a built material object, become iconic in non-architectural forms? What is the relationship between the built object and the visual and textual body of imagery that enables our imagination to, in effect, “transport” architecture elsewhere? In what ways do ideas or images we remember of certain buildings or places endure in our memory? What is the relationship of a physical place or building to an idea with a site or object as the material match to anchor or trigger the recollection?
Hornstein’s lecture is based on research she carried out as the 2007-08 recipient of the Walter L. Gordon Fellowship. Established in 1981 and named in honour of the late Hon. Walter L. Gordon, former chancellor of York University, the Walter L. Gordon Research Fellowship is awarded annually to a distinguished scholar at York in recognition of outstanding research. The Fellowship provides recipients with the opportunity to complete projects requiring a sustained period of intensive effort, free of other university responsibilities.
Dr. Hornstein’s lecture is the centrepiece of the Faculty of Fine Arts Research Celebration taking place Tuesday, November 17.
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“Losing Site: Architecture, Memory and Place”: Architectural Historian Shelley Hornstein delivers the Walter L. Gordon Lecture at York University
When: Tuesday, November 17, 12pm
Where: 1009 Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) Building, York University, 4700 Keele St. Toronto [Map]
Admission: Free
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Media Contact:
Amy Stewart, Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
416 650 8469 / amy.stewart@yorku.ca
