In Conversation – Solitude and its Spaces across History, Philosophy and Architecture

Barbara Taylor joins Lisa Guenther and Leslie Topp for an informal conversation about solitude, isolation, confinement and the rooms, cells and other spaces within which these states are experienced and enforced.
Keynes Library, School of Arts, Birkbeck University, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD Map

Organised in collaboration with the Architecture Space and Society Centre and the Hidden Persuaders project at Birkbeck University, this event brings together three scholars whose work deals with spaces of solitude, isolation and confinement: Barbara Taylor, Lisa Guenther, and Leslie Topp.

Ranging across history, philosophy and architecture, from the eighteenth century to the present, the discussion will address questions such as: What distinguishes solitude from isolation, a room of one’s own from a cell? Why study the history of these concepts and spaces? What is the relationship between body, mind and space in the confines of the single room? Can spaces of solitude be seen as a connecting thread between areas as diverse as psychiatry, criminal justice, monasticism, academia and the intellectual life?

Places are limited so please register for tickets here.