Nov
Hitze | Philipp Blom
Institut für Kunst und Architektur
Akademie der bildenden Künste
Augasse 2-6
1090 Wien
Österreich
Nature's Mutiny - Nature and Culture in Times of Climate Change
An illuminating work of environmental history that chronicles the great climate crisis of the 1600s, which transformed the social and political fabric of Europe. Although hints of a crisis appeared as early as the 1570s, the temperature by the end of the sixteenth century plummeted so drastically that Mediterranean harbors were covered with ice, birds literally dropped out of the sky, and “frost fairs” were erected on a frozen Thames—with kiosks, taverns, and even brothels that become a semi-permanent part of the city. Recounting the deep legacy and far-ranging consequences of this “Little Ice Age,” acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how the European landscape had suddenly, but ineradicably, changed by the mid-seventeenth century. While apocalyptic weather patterns destroyed entire harvests and incited mass migrations, they gave rise to the growth of European cities, the emergence of early capitalism, and the vigorous stirrings of the Enlightenment. A timely examination of how a society responds to profound and unexpected change, Nature’s Mutiny will transform the way we think about climate change in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Philipp Blom (1970) is a historian and author of several novels, journalism, politics, and philosophy. He also works a radio presenter, documentary film maker and as a public lecturer. Philipp was born in Hamburg and grew up in Detmold, in northern Germany. After studying history, philosophy and Jewish studies in Vienna and Oxford, he gained a D.Phil. on nationalism. During this period, he also worked in journalism, taught at a high school, and wrote a novel. Like many of his subsequent books it was written in English and translated into German by himself. From 1997 to 2001 Blom and his wife, the writer Veronica Buckley, lived in London, where Philipp initially worked as an editor in a publishing house and as a foreign correspondent for German, Swiss and British newspapers and magazines (Guardian, Independent, the TLS, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Neue Züricher Zeitung) and for radio stations (BBC, ORF, Deutschlandfunk). 2001 the couple moved to Paris to concentrate on their books. Since 2007 they live in Vienna. Next to his work in history, fiction, philosophy and art, Philipp presents the program „Punkt 1“ on the Austrian radio station Ö1. He wrote and presented a TV documentary, and curated exhibitions for, among others, the Wien Museum and the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, where Philipp invited in 2010 to work for one year. Lecture tours and festivals take Philipp throughout Europe as well as to the USA, Canada, and South America. Philipp Blom’s book combine historical research, philosophical enquiry and an essayistic, literary approach. Among his best-selling works are The Vertigo Years and Fracture, dealing with the cultural history of the early twentieth century, A Wicked Company, about the radical Enlightenment, Nature’s Mutiny an investigation into history and climate change in the seventeenth century and, more recently, What is at Stake, dealing with climate change, digitization, and democracy. Philipp’s wide-ranging work and research interests have received numerous accolades. He won several international prizes (Premis Terenci Moix, Barcelona, Groene Waterman Prijs, Antwerpen, NDR Kultur Buchpreis, Wolfenbüttel), and his books are translated into sixteen languages. From 2009-2010 he was Fellow of the IFK, 2017 Visiting Fellow at the IWM, both in Vienna. 2018 he opened the prestigious Salzburg Festspiele with a widely-discussed speech on the future of the Enlightenment in a time of climate change. Having wanted to become a violinist early in life, Philipp also continues to make music and presents a series of concerts at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
HITZE [heat] as a property of bodies, spaces and regions has shaped and continues to shape our thinking about architecture and cities. The lecture series, part of IKA’s 2019/2020 special programme HITZE TAKES COMMAND, examines the spatial culture of temperature, and its broader social and political implications, through the eyes of a number of contemporary thinkers. The historians, artists, scientists and architects assembled in this lecture series will explore the topic of HITZE in dimensions ranging from the soup pot to the troposphere.
Who can think of the future today without consideration of HITZE? Every exceptionally warm day is imagined as portending future disaster, while a sudden cold day provides hope that the ravages of climate change might be mitigated. Our experience of HITZE is overburdened with dread and yet, HITZE is also a form of pleasure – integral to sensations of taste, comfort and sexuality. We hope to discover and understand more about the realm of HITZE in explorations of fields that will shape the future of architecture and urbanism.
The lecture series 2019/2020 is organised and curated by David Gissen and Hannes Stiefel.