How does the conception of the “home” transform in a context of global migration? In relation to the “After Belonging: in Transit” theme proposed by the curators of the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale, this course aims to investigate the notion of “home” and its (interior) spatial implications to map out the architectural implications, agencies and innovative potentials of domestic space. While raising pressing discussions related to our present condition, this course will propose an historical perspective, investigating notions of “home” and domesticity as a political and architectural battleground.
Having transformed from a notion designating “the inner character and sense of subjectivity” in the Renaissance, to a sense of state territory in the 18th century, the interior space became a scene for political discussions related to issues such as class and gender, mass consumption and mass media in the 19th and 20th century. At the turn of the 20th century, with various literary and visual artworks depicting the city from the private lives of the citizens, the domestic interior emerged as both a refuge from the city and dependent on it. This mutual appropriation and dependence between the private and the public suggested not only a reinterpretation of the domestic space but also of the relation between citizens and the urban space.
In the context of this course, the historical perspective will allow us to question the distinctions between public and private; urban and domestic. Further, we will investigate the interior space as a scene for architectural experimentation in multi sensorial performances, and as images and displays of buildings, furnishing, exhibitions, theatrical scenes and in literature, with a particular eye to object/space relations and the of use of colour, materiality and ornament.