Can digital technologies for capturing and reproducing reality deepen our understanding and enrich our experience of built heritage? Can these new technologies not only improve the daily practice of preservation but effectively inform a new paradigm of cultural heritage? The 2019 Fitch Colloquium will explore the future of Historic Preservation through the lens of experimental approaches to digital documentation, analysis, interpretation, archiving, sharing, visualization and re-materialization of data. The symposium will examine cutting-edge processes involving the development and application of digital tools to projects of all scales, including high-resolution 3D scanning, gaming, computer-based visual pattern recognition, blockchain encryption, behavioral geo-tracking or interactive projection mapping among others. Internationally recognized experts from a varied range of disciplines will unpack their work and speculate on the conceptual changes that might emerge in response to the current upheaval in technology.

Participants:

David Gissen, PhD, Professor & Associate Chair, Graduate Programs Division of Architecture, The California College of the Arts

Dr. Pilar Bosch Roig, Associate Professor and Researcher at the University Polytechnic of Valencia, Spain

Dr. Frédéric Kaplan, Assistant Professor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Dr. Hannah Lewi, Professor of Architecture, University of Melbourne

Ian Bogost, Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies, Professor of Interactive Computing Professor, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

Carlos Bayod, Factum Foundation, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP

Arnaud Baernhoft, Digital Producer, Alchemy VR

Carlos Benaïm, Perfumer, International Flavors and Fragrances

Yves Ubelmann, Digital Architect for Cultural Heritage, ICONEM

Emily L. Spratt, PhD Candidate, Princeton University

Chance Coughenour, Digital Archaeologist, Google Arts & Culture

Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture, Columbia GSAPP

Caitlin Blanchfield, PhD Candidate, Columbia GSAPP

Moderators:

Erica Avrami, PhD, James Marston Fitch Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP

David Benjamin, Founding Principal of The Living, Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP

Organized by Jorge Otero-Pailos and the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia GSAPP.