Lecture SeriesTerritories of the In/Human

On each evening in this lecture series, an artist in the exhibition Territories of the In/Human will be in conversation with a guest speaker. In presentations and discussions, both will pick up and elaborate on different aspects of the topic. The lecture series is organized by the art, science & business program of Akademie Schloss Solitude.

– Thu, June 17, 2010, 7 pm
On this day, the exhibition is open during the event.

Matilde Cassani (architect/artist, Milan)
Sacred Interiors in Profane Buildings + Spiritual Devices

For her project, Spiritual Devices, Matilde Cassani spearheaded a comprehensive investigation of the pivotal needs for prayer rituals of four world religions in regards to space, furnishings, and other objects. The artist’s orientation here was particularly geared toward the provisional, sometimes unofficial, prayer rooms of religious minorities in European cities, to pursue the questions: what is the impact of religious pluralism on contemporary cities and what are the new places in which religious pluralism manifests itself?

Michael Guggenheim (sociologist, London/Zurich)
(In-)Human Laws in (In-)Human Territories. Zoning Laws, Assisted Suicide, and Minarets

In his sociological survey, Michael Guggenheim explores the relation of religious practices to spaces and buildings, and what happens if the zoning law is used to include, exclude, and change different practices. With the help of zoning laws, the state of Switzerland tried to ban assisted suicide and minarets. The right of a state to define its territory and to regulate how people are allowed to build is mostly in conflict with foreign citizens and their desire for self-determination and the freedom of their beliefs.