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Lecture

The Printing Press: A Revolution in France

In courses (2)

AR-365: Theory and architectural culture

Le cours offre un résumé de la théorie et la culture architecturales depuis 1789 dans le monde occidentale. Le but est de comprendre des textes dans lesquels l'architecture est définie comme une discipline synthétisant une variété de thèmes (sociales, arti ...

AR-366: Theory and architectural culture: exercises

Le cours offre une méthode pour discerner et comprendre les idées, les théories et les valeurs culturelles dans des bâtiments et des projets d'architecture. ...

Description

This lecture discusses the introduction of the printing press in France and its impact on society, as seen through a historical movie. It explores the conflict between traditional handwritten books and the new printed books, highlighting the power of knowledge and freedom of thought. The lecture also delves into the role of cathedrals as symbols of the past and the resistance against technological advancements, showcasing the struggle between preserving the old order and embracing progress.

Instructor

Christophe van Gerrewey

Christophe Van Gerrewey (1982) is an architecture critic and theorist, writing about contemporary buildings, their recent histories and intellectual dimensions, and their connections to society, philosophy, art and literature. In particular, he is an expert on the work of OMA/Rem Koolhaas as well as on Belgian architecture. He is one of the editors of architecture journal OASE, and of art and culture journal De Witte Raaf. In his writings, architecture is considered as a source of comprehensive and integrated knowledge that pertains to diverse disciplines – a way of looking at, and of understanding, many aspects of the world we live in. This gives his activities an unusually broad and comprehensive aspect, transcending divisions of knowledge. Since 2015, he is Assistant Professor Tenure Track of architecture theory at EPFL Lausanne. He was trained as an architect-engineer at Ghent University and as a literary theorist at KU Leuven. In Dutch, his mother tongue, he has published three novels and a collection of essays between 2013 and 2017.

Official source

Related concepts (23)

Cathedral

A cathedral is a church that contains the cathedra of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches.

Gothic cathedrals and churches

Gothic cathedrals and churches are religious buildings created in Europe between the mid-12th century and the beginning of the 16th century. The cathedrals are notable particularly for their great height and their extensive use of stained glass to fill the interiors with light. They were the tallest and largest buildings of their time and the most prominent examples of Gothic architecture. The appearance of the Gothic cathedral was not only a revolution in architecture; it also introduced new forms in decoration, sculpture, and art.

Printing press

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper, or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink and accelerated the process. Typically used for texts, the invention and global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.

Knowledge

Knowledge is a form of awareness or familiarity. It is often understood as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also mean familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinct from opinion or guesswork by virtue of justification. While there is wide agreement among philosophers that propositional knowledge is a form of true belief, many controversies in philosophy focus on justification.

Freedom of thought

Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by developing knowledge, concepts, theories and assessing them in the given environment. This cognitive proficiency gives a sense of contentment and replaces the feeling of helplessness. Apart from bringing ease to the ego of a person, new knowledge and ideas also bring a hope for the future.

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