Hinterlands+

To be able to anticipate these fast moving trends, the European countryside urgently needs to apply cross-disciplinary readings and invest in transnational co-operation.

This is the second symposium of Hinterlands+, a program initiated by LABLAB and funded by the Goethe Institut. The purpose of the symposium is a cross-disciplinary assessment of the current and future situation.

Clues to understanding the importance of the German countryside in relation to German society are not difficult to find, but often are overlooked, given the monumental cultural role of German cities like Berlin, Cologne or Munich. Yet there is a rich legacy that is deeply linked to the countryside: the 19th century German Romantic landscape painting movement, the Post-war German New Wave cinema, the Dusseldorf school of photography, and the revival of post-industrial landscapes brought to life through the combination of industrial archaeology and recreation.

This presentation moves through a number to these significant transformations, examining in the process the way the landscape continues to change and morph, and yet continues to attract those seeking a certain freedom of movement and expression.

Dr Peter Lang have 25 years of experience in higher education and as former Professor at the Royal Institute of Art Institute in Stockholm. Dr. Peter Lang has developed and conducted courses in architecture, design, theory and history. He has curated major international exhibitions on Radical Italian Architecture, design history and urban research. He is an active member of the Rome based urban arts collective Stalker, and is founder of the advanced research platform R-lab NA, a cross-disciplinary theory and practice initiative focusing on society and the built environment.