New Modes of Existence
A nod to the Llullian ideal of creating models to achieve the unity of mankind, observed in this case through the peripheral vision of some of the most original currents in contemporary culture.

Conference and panel discussion:

“INTENSIFICATIONS—Territorial Transformations in the Anthropocene”, with John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rönnskog (Territorial Agency, Goldsmiths, University of London) and results of the seminar-workshop “Studies of resonance chambers” with Blanca Pujals. Presentation by Andy Gracie.

*Language: English and Spanish with simultaneous interpretation.

John Palmesino

John Palmesino is an architect and urbanist, born in Switzerland. Together with Ann-Sofi Rönnskog, he established Territorial Agency, which designed the integrated vision for the future of the Markermeer, in the Netherlands. He is in charge of the Master course at the Research Architecture Centre, Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is also conducting research for his PhD. He is the initiator and curator of the research project Neutrality, a multidisciplinary investigation in the territorial implications of UN policies and self-organization processes of transformation and control of the contemporary human landscapes. He has been head of research at ETH Zurich, Studio Basel / Contemporary City Institute, between 2003 and 2007, a research platform for the investigation of the transformation patterns of the city of the 21st century founded by the Pritzker Prize winning architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Recent publications include Switzerland – An Urban Portrait (Birkhäuser, 2007). His research at ETH Studio Basel focuses on Paris, Naples, San Francisco, St Petersburg, Hong Kong, and the Canary Islands. Open and Closed: Transformations in the 21st Century City is the working title of his forthcoming publication. He is also co-founder of multiplicity, a research network on contemporary territorial transformations. The Milan-based organization deals with contemporary urbanism, representation of inhabited landscape transformation, visual arts and general culture. Multiplicity is a research network of architects, urbanists, social scientists, photographers, filmmakers and visual artists. 


Ann-Sofi Rönnskog

Ann-Sofi Rönnskog is an architect and urbanist from Finland. She established Territorial Agency together with John Palmesino. Her work focuses on the architectural and spatial analysis of contemporary city transformation processes. She has participated in pioneering research in the field and has developed new modes of representation and analysis of the contemporary inhabited environment, with particular attention to the spatial and architectural configurations of European metropolitan regions. Her work and research explores what architecture can do and what it can become and fosters new roles for the profession in a rapidly changing urbanized world. She has studied in Oulu, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and at ETH Zurich. Her thesis work on the Helsinki metropolitan region explores the contemporary developments of the Finnish capital city. She has worked as scientific assistant at ETH Zürich / Studio Basel – Contemporary City Institute with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland where she curated the mapping project for the book Switzerland – An Urban Portrait (Birkhäuser 2005) and contributed to research on Paris, MetroBasel, and the Canary Islands. She co-curated the Institute’s participation in the 10th Architecture International Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and the exhibition Das neue Bild der Schweiz at the Swiss National Library, Bern.