Words & Cities: Mikas Lang and Liv Sejrbo Lidegaard’s Literary Visions for the City of the Future

The great challenges of the 21st century are being created and solved in cities. More than half of the world’s population lives here, and the proportion is expected to reach 85% by 2100. At the same time, the inherited ideas of modernity about the city are feeling increasingly worn. We no longer long for the metropolis’ shock, spectacle, and anonymity, but instead yearn for new narratives, fantasies, and phantasms: ideas of car-free living, autonomous block democracies, and bio-inclusive neighborhoods. If we want stories that can drive real change and not merely new versions of the same, the city of the future must be imagined at a distance from the material interests of the present. But who will create these new narratives, and who will set them into circulation?

Copenhagen Architecture Biennale has invited a number of authors to each write their own text about the city of the future and present their vision. Two of these texts — by Mikas Lang and Liv Sejrbo Lidegaard, respectively — explore decolonial, economic, and ecological perspectives on the future city, and will be presented for the first time on this day at Louisiana, where the event will weave together readings, cross-disciplinary conversations with expert voices, and debate about literature’s significance for the city and its possible futures.

The event marks the official launch of WORDS & CITIES: a new platform that, over the coming years, will explore the connection between literature and architecture in order to create new meeting points between language and the city.

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DA:

Det 21. århundredes store problemer bliver skabt og løst i byerne. Mere end halvdelen af verdens befolkning bor her, og andelen forventes at nå 85 % inden 2100. Samtidig føles modernitetens overleverede idéer om byen stadig mere slidte. Vi længes ikke længere efter storbyens chok, spektakel og anonymitet, men sukker efter nye fortællinger, fantasier og fantasmer; idéer om bilfrihed, autonome karré-demokratier og bioinklusive kvarterer. Hvis vi ønsker fortællinger, der kan drive reel forandring og ikke blot nye versioner af det samme, må fremtidens by tænkes på afstand af nutidens materielle interesser. Men hvem skal skabe disse nye fortællinger, og hvem skal bringe dem i cirkulation?

Copenhagen Architecture Biennale har inviteret en række forfattere til at skrive hver deres tekst om fremtidens by og give deres bud. To af disse tekster, af henholdvis Mikas Lang og Liv Sejrbo Lidegaard, - om dekoloniale, økonomiske og økologiske perspektiver på fremtidens by - præsenteres for første gang denne dag på Louisiana, hvor arrangementet vil sammenvæve oplæsninger, tværfaglige samtaler med ekspertstemmer og debat om litteraturens betydning for byen og dens mulige fremtider.

Arrangementet markerer den officielle lancering af ORD & BYER: en ny platform, der over de kommende år vil udforske forbindelsen mellem litteratur og arkitektur for at skabe nye mødesteder mellem sproget og byen.