Michael Young

The century-old idea of “defamiliarization”-first developed by Viktor Shklovsky in his essay “Art as Device”-has become a touchstone for contemporary conversations on realism in aesthetics, popping up in discussions of neural networks, philosophies of the strange and uncanny, Sianne Ngai’s arguments around “the interesting,” and discourse on the films of Chantal Akerman. The use of the term though has one often overlooked nuance. The English translation of ostranenie required the creation of a neologism, enstrangement, a combination of enchantment and estrangement.
This lecture addresses the possibilities of “enstrangement” in art and architecture including the work of Young & Ayata.
September 26, 2023
Faculty of Architecture
University of Manitoba