This Thing Called Theory

Abstract

Focusing on This Thing Called Theory, and last of a series of itinerant events and publications, the seminar ‘Double Crossing’ in which the author acted as respondent gathers five different points of view about the possibility of producing theory as an act of betrayal against a previous ‘thing’, be it a theoretical discourse or a fact. A theory does not simply construct something new but undertakes an aggression towards the ‘old’ in order to produce the ‘new’. Several suggestions come out about how such an overturning of architectural theory can be undertaken. Among these, different theoretical branches ranging from critical thinking to computational criticism are involved. In general, the seminar outlines two main tendencies or attitudes to portray theoretical betrayals in architecture: those who consider theory as a possibility of betraying intentions and others who intend betrayal as a continuous process of exit and re-entry from the domain of architecture.