The conference is organized as an hommage to Raimund Abraham, who died in Los Angeles in March 2010

The MAK in cooperation with the Institute of Architecture / University of Applied Arts Vienna stages an architecture conference to honour one of the most visionary and progressive architects and theoretical thinkers of the international avant-garde. With the construction of the Austrian Cultural Forum Building in New York (2002), he made an outstanding contribution to contemporary architecture in Manhattan.

10h30

Architectural Tour
“Traviatagasse Revisited“ (master plan Raimumd Abraham, 1987-91) guided by Carl Pruscha (meet at MAK Weiskirchnerstraße 3 / free bus shuttle)

13h to 15h30

(Un) Built – Architecture Live 7University of Applied Arts, Lichthof B, Oskar Kokoschka Platz 2, 1010 Vienna

Architecture Live 7 presents the work and uncompromising spirit that Raimund Abraham gave the field of architecture in conjunction with a selected group of Alumni that will share their perspective towards architecture beyond the bounds of this University. In 2003/04 seven students from Studio Prix spent six months in Mexico constructing TECHO EN MEXICO. Raimund Abraham was an integral participant at this event. The Institute of Architecture highlights for the first time its alumni program AAAC and invited Graduates to give brief statements concerning their professional experiences, sharing both positive and negative insights.Thom Mayne Keynote lectureDiscussion moderated by Klaus Stattmann with: Erich Bernard (BWM), Matias del Campo (SPAN), Nora Graw (cloud 9), Marie-Therese Harnoncourt (the next ENTERprise), Thom Mayne (Morphosis), Giulio Polita (Coop Himmelb(l)au), Kristina Schinegger and Stefan Rutzinger (SOMA), Thomas Vietzke (Zaha Hadid)

16h to 19h30

The Presence of the AbsenceMAK – Ausstellungshalle, Weiskirchnerstraße 3, 1010 Vienna

Architecture between ideal and materiality. To keep present the absence of the ideal in reality is the issue of architeture. Does architecture have to be materialized or is its utopian excess only preserved in the design, the drawing, the model?Kenneth Frampton Laudation for Raimund AbrahamWerner Faymann In Promotion of Contemporary ArchitectureRound Table Discussions moderated by Kenneth Frampton (NY) withVito Acconci (NY) / Peter Eisenman (NY) / Peter Kubelka (Vienna) / Thom Mayne (LA) / Jonas Mekas (NY) / Eric Owen Moss (LA) / Peter Noever (Vienna) / Wolf D. Prix (Vienna) / Lebbeus Woods (NY)PresentationsJonas Mekas (NY) “30 years footage RA” Andrea Lenardin (LA) “RA-Mentor”Alexis Rochas (LA) “RA-Teacher”

info

abraham.conference@MAK.at

Followed by an open-air party with music, food, visuals / no entrance fee from 8 p.m.

Percept by Peter Noever and Wolf D. Prix. Curated by Christine Schwaiger