TORONTO, March 29, 2010 -- 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 March 31.

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.

Hornstein’s talk will take place Wed. March 31 at 12:30pm in the Faculty Common Room, 214 Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts at York University, 4700 Keele St.

Admission is free.

Media Contact:
Amy Stewart, Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
416.650.8469  |  amy.stewart@yorku.ca

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