CANON and CODE.
The language of arts in today’s world.

30 June / 1 July / 8 July 2021, Rome (web conference)

What is the meaning of artistic language in today’s world?

Architecture, art among the arts, in the age of uninterrupted transformations of paradigms and expression codes, is mostly perceived as communication while in cities all over the world, construction continues by mediating public and private interests.

The legacy of modern culture is still influential, producing language within a field of aesthetic expression on the one hand logical-rational and the other intuitive-empathic. Language is transformed through neologisms, transcriptions, and experiments. Does each language live in its own time? Does the meaning of language change over time?

The hermeneutics of language is expressed either by (absolute or relative) intelligibility or by the construction of a consensus through the use of intermediate codes opening conceptual boundaries and multiple ways of representations. Adhesion to a linguistic expression does not occur thanks to the intelligibility of the language, and therefore consent is not obtained only through codifiable procedures.

In this brief framework, we can discuss whether architects still need to equip themselves with their own language, grammar, canons and codes. The conference aims to explore the languages of the arts at the present time through studies and research on genealogies, inventions, metamorphoses and contaminations, that have always characterized architectural and artistic cultures.