THE INTERIORS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
This presentation provides a thorough examination of how social media is influencing contemporary architecture, focusing on interior spaces as sites for consumerism, display, and mediatization. By analyzing the spatial dynamics of the most followed accounts on Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, and Pinterest, alongside the architectural landscapes within user-generated video games such as those hosted on Roblox, and the domestic environments featuring animals—particularly pets—on social media, the presentation sheds light on the ethical, political, and ecological implications of digital platforms. Ultimately, it elucidates the complexities that arise from the integration of technology, media, and architecture in shaping contemporary social interactions and spatial experiences.
Category: Lecture. Spanish
Author: Javier F. Contreras
Conference: MMMAD - Madrid Urban Digital Art Festival
Medialab Matadero, 2024
This presentation provides a thorough examination of how social media is influencing contemporary architecture, focusing on interior spaces as sites for consumerism, display, and mediatization. By analyzing the spatial dynamics of the most followed accounts on Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, and Pinterest, alongside the architectural landscapes within user-generated video games such as those hosted on Roblox, and the domestic environments featuring animals—particularly pets—on social media, the presentation sheds light on the ethical, political, and ecological implications of digital platforms. Ultimately, it elucidates the complexities that arise from the integration of technology, media, and architecture in shaping contemporary social interactions and spatial experiences.
Category: Lecture. Spanish
Author: Javier F. Contreras
Conference: MMMAD - Madrid Urban Digital Art Festival
Medialab Matadero, 2024
Madrid. May 11, 2024
![]()
INTERIOR ECOLOGIES
Interior Ecologies explores the intersection between the built environment, interior architecture, and their relationship to emerging ecologies, more-than-human relations, post-natural territories, and new digital media. The conference is fully online, featuring innovative broadcast formats that foster interaction among speakers, the audience, and AI-generated content. The event features a series of lectures, roundtables, and experimental performances, showcasing the latest research and design approaches in architecture, ecology, and media.
Category: International Conference
https://www.interiorecologies.com
Organization: MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture (HEAD – Genève)
Institute for Postnatural Studies
Download Program. PDF (English)
Interior Ecologies explores the intersection between the built environment, interior architecture, and their relationship to emerging ecologies, more-than-human relations, post-natural territories, and new digital media. The conference is fully online, featuring innovative broadcast formats that foster interaction among speakers, the audience, and AI-generated content. The event features a series of lectures, roundtables, and experimental performances, showcasing the latest research and design approaches in architecture, ecology, and media.
Category: International Conference
https://www.interiorecologies.com
Organization: MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture (HEAD – Genève)
Institute for Postnatural Studies
Download Program. PDF (English)
Online. December 20-21, 2023
![]()
Mediated Archives
THE INTERIORS OF INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK
This presentation examines the interior spaces of social media, with a particular focus on Instagram and TikTok as two of the dominant platforms shaping contemporary architectural archiving through the massive production, editing, and circulation of images and videos. The study focuses on the ten most followed accounts on both platforms, analyzing all the posts from 2022 that represent interior spaces without any officially stated commercial purpose. It ultimately questions the role social media plays in the redefinition of our environment and its blurred boundaries, namely how its representation directly affects our everyday material surroundings.
Category: Lecture. English
Author/s: Javier F. Contreras, Paule Perron
Conference: Architecture Archives of the Future.
Jaap Bakema Study Centre, TU Delft. 2023
Download PDF (English)
THE INTERIORS OF INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK
This presentation examines the interior spaces of social media, with a particular focus on Instagram and TikTok as two of the dominant platforms shaping contemporary architectural archiving through the massive production, editing, and circulation of images and videos. The study focuses on the ten most followed accounts on both platforms, analyzing all the posts from 2022 that represent interior spaces without any officially stated commercial purpose. It ultimately questions the role social media plays in the redefinition of our environment and its blurred boundaries, namely how its representation directly affects our everyday material surroundings.
Category: Lecture. English
Author/s: Javier F. Contreras, Paule Perron
Conference: Architecture Archives of the Future.
Jaap Bakema Study Centre, TU Delft. 2023
Download PDF (English)
Delft. November 22, 2023
![]()
LECTURES - index
LECTURES
Javier F. Contreras. Mediated Interiors (Conference: NPATAK International Architecture Festival. Yerevan, 05.09.2024)
Javier F. Contreras. The Interiors of Social Media (Conference: MMMAD - Madrid Urban Digital Art Festival. Madrid, 11.05.2024)
Javier F. Contreras, Roberto Zancan. A Nocturnal History of Architecture (House of Switzerland. Milan Design Week. Milan, 17.04.2024)
Javier F. Contreras. Experimentalismo: Interiores, Arquitectura y Medios en el Siglo XXI (COAC. Tarragona, 21.03.2024)
Javier F. Contreras, Paule Perron. Mediated Archives. The Interiors of Instagram and TikTok (Conference: Architecture Archives of the Future. Jaap Bakema Study Centre. Delft, 22.11.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. Interiores Mediados (Conference: Post Like, I Biennal d’Arquitectura Jove de Catalunya. COAC. Barcelona, 06.10.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. Intérieurs dans les intérieurs. Les laboratoires d’architecture au XXIe siècle (Conference: L’enseignement des arts à Genève. Du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours. HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 13.09.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. The Miralles Projection (Lecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Suzhou – Online, 02.03.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. Architectural Figurations, Mediated Spaces (Conference: Latent Futures, Figurations. Superstudio EPFL. Lausanne, 11.10.2022)
Javier F. Contreras, Paule Perron. Scènes de Nuit (Event: Quinzaine de l’Urbanisme. Geneva, 30.09.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit: on Night, Media and Architecture (Conference: 15th Pan-European Conference on International Relations. Athens – Online, 03.09.2022)
Javier F. Contreras, Kai Reaver. Research Case Studies on Architectural Heritage and Mixed Reality (Conference: (In)Tangible Heritage(s). Canterbury – Online, 16.06.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit: Un programme de recherche qui explore le rôle de la nuit dans la construction des villes et des sociétés contemporaines (Conference: Claustophilie. Les univers de la claustration, entre désirs et transgressions. Paris – Online, 17.05.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit (Seminar: Making is Thinking: Design, Craft, and the Practice of International Relations. The Graduate Institute. Geneva, 16.02.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit (Lecture at EPFL. Lausanne, 27.05.2020)
Javier F. Contreras. Work, Night, Space (Conference: Worktech 19. Geneva, 24.09.2019)
Javier F. Contreras, Youri Kravtchenko. Scènes de Nuit (Event: Nuit Blanche Lausanne. Forum d’architectures (f’ar). Lausanne, 21.09.2021)
Javier F. Contreras. Non-monumentality: Miralles/Tagliabue’s Project for the Utrecht Town Hall (Conference: On Monumentality. Athens, 06.04.2019)
CONVERSATIONS with
India Mahdavi. Éloge de l’ornement. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras (Festival: Le Goût de M. Paris, 24.03.2024)
Jonathan L. Austin, Gilles Carbonnier, Javier F. Contreras, Pascal Hufschmid, and Anna Leander. What is the Future of Humanitarian Design? (Roundtable discussion at Maison de la Paix. Geneva, 27.11.2023)
Laura Odene. ¿Cómo influyen las redes sociales en el diseño de interiores? Interview to Javier F. Contreras (Radio program: El Gallo que no cesa, RNE. 21.08.2023)
Ghaith Abi Ghanem, Jad Melki. The Power of Place: Exploring Cultural Landscapes through Exhibition Design. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras on the scenography for the mudac exhibition Beirut: The Eras of Design (mudac. Lausanne, 03.05.2023)
Chase Galis, Maria Shevelkina, Amy Chazkel, and Cat Rossi. Night Scenes: For a Nocturnal History of Architecture. Session co-chairs: Javier F. Contreras, Roberto Zancan (Conference: 76th Annual International Conference, Society of Architectural Historians. Montreal, 14.04.2023)
Bas Princen. Photography & Architecture: Unbeleuchtet. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Leonid Slonimskiy (HEAD – Genève. Geneva – Online, 28.04.2021)
Richard Levene. El Croquis Night. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Sven Högger (Large Kiosk. Geneva, 21.02.2020)
Marina Otero. Talking Heads. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Charlotte Laubard (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 08.10.2019)
India Mahdavi. Talking Heads. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Valentina de Luigi (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 19.02.2019)
Benedetta Tagliabue. Talking Heads. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 25.04.2018)
CONFERENCES
Program Chair / Scientific Committee Member
Nothing About Interior Architecture (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 23.09.2024)
What’s the Future of Humanitarian Design? (HEAD – Genève / Geneva Graduate Institute. Geneva, 13-14.05.2024)
Interior Ecologies (II) (MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture, HEAD – Genève / Institute for Postnatural Studies. Online, 20-21.12.2023)
Interior Ecologies (I): Research on Non-human Environments (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 5-6.12.2022)
Nocturnal History of Architecture (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 6-7.12.2021)
Archipelago: Architectures for the Multiverse (HEAD – Genève / HEPIA. Geneva, 6-8.5.2021)
From the Page to the Screen: Entanglements between Heritage and Media (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 01.12.2020)
Architectural Models: Theory and Practice in Scale (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 2-3.12.2019)
Intimacy Exposed: Toilet, Bathroom, Restroom (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 10-11.12.2018)
Javier F. Contreras. Mediated Interiors (Conference: NPATAK International Architecture Festival. Yerevan, 05.09.2024)
Javier F. Contreras. The Interiors of Social Media (Conference: MMMAD - Madrid Urban Digital Art Festival. Madrid, 11.05.2024)
Javier F. Contreras, Roberto Zancan. A Nocturnal History of Architecture (House of Switzerland. Milan Design Week. Milan, 17.04.2024)
Javier F. Contreras. Experimentalismo: Interiores, Arquitectura y Medios en el Siglo XXI (COAC. Tarragona, 21.03.2024)
Javier F. Contreras, Paule Perron. Mediated Archives. The Interiors of Instagram and TikTok (Conference: Architecture Archives of the Future. Jaap Bakema Study Centre. Delft, 22.11.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. Interiores Mediados (Conference: Post Like, I Biennal d’Arquitectura Jove de Catalunya. COAC. Barcelona, 06.10.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. Intérieurs dans les intérieurs. Les laboratoires d’architecture au XXIe siècle (Conference: L’enseignement des arts à Genève. Du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours. HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 13.09.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. The Miralles Projection (Lecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Suzhou – Online, 02.03.2023)
Javier F. Contreras. Architectural Figurations, Mediated Spaces (Conference: Latent Futures, Figurations. Superstudio EPFL. Lausanne, 11.10.2022)
Javier F. Contreras, Paule Perron. Scènes de Nuit (Event: Quinzaine de l’Urbanisme. Geneva, 30.09.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit: on Night, Media and Architecture (Conference: 15th Pan-European Conference on International Relations. Athens – Online, 03.09.2022)
Javier F. Contreras, Kai Reaver. Research Case Studies on Architectural Heritage and Mixed Reality (Conference: (In)Tangible Heritage(s). Canterbury – Online, 16.06.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit: Un programme de recherche qui explore le rôle de la nuit dans la construction des villes et des sociétés contemporaines (Conference: Claustophilie. Les univers de la claustration, entre désirs et transgressions. Paris – Online, 17.05.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit (Seminar: Making is Thinking: Design, Craft, and the Practice of International Relations. The Graduate Institute. Geneva, 16.02.2022)
Javier F. Contreras. Scènes de Nuit (Lecture at EPFL. Lausanne, 27.05.2020)
Javier F. Contreras. Work, Night, Space (Conference: Worktech 19. Geneva, 24.09.2019)
Javier F. Contreras, Youri Kravtchenko. Scènes de Nuit (Event: Nuit Blanche Lausanne. Forum d’architectures (f’ar). Lausanne, 21.09.2021)
Javier F. Contreras. Non-monumentality: Miralles/Tagliabue’s Project for the Utrecht Town Hall (Conference: On Monumentality. Athens, 06.04.2019)
CONVERSATIONS with
India Mahdavi. Éloge de l’ornement. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras (Festival: Le Goût de M. Paris, 24.03.2024)
Jonathan L. Austin, Gilles Carbonnier, Javier F. Contreras, Pascal Hufschmid, and Anna Leander. What is the Future of Humanitarian Design? (Roundtable discussion at Maison de la Paix. Geneva, 27.11.2023)
Laura Odene. ¿Cómo influyen las redes sociales en el diseño de interiores? Interview to Javier F. Contreras (Radio program: El Gallo que no cesa, RNE. 21.08.2023)
Ghaith Abi Ghanem, Jad Melki. The Power of Place: Exploring Cultural Landscapes through Exhibition Design. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras on the scenography for the mudac exhibition Beirut: The Eras of Design (mudac. Lausanne, 03.05.2023)
Chase Galis, Maria Shevelkina, Amy Chazkel, and Cat Rossi. Night Scenes: For a Nocturnal History of Architecture. Session co-chairs: Javier F. Contreras, Roberto Zancan (Conference: 76th Annual International Conference, Society of Architectural Historians. Montreal, 14.04.2023)
Bas Princen. Photography & Architecture: Unbeleuchtet. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Leonid Slonimskiy (HEAD – Genève. Geneva – Online, 28.04.2021)
Richard Levene. El Croquis Night. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Sven Högger (Large Kiosk. Geneva, 21.02.2020)
Marina Otero. Talking Heads. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Charlotte Laubard (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 08.10.2019)
India Mahdavi. Talking Heads. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras and Valentina de Luigi (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 19.02.2019)
Benedetta Tagliabue. Talking Heads. Conversation with Javier F. Contreras (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 25.04.2018)
CONFERENCES
Program Chair / Scientific Committee Member
Nothing About Interior Architecture (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 23.09.2024)
What’s the Future of Humanitarian Design? (HEAD – Genève / Geneva Graduate Institute. Geneva, 13-14.05.2024)
Interior Ecologies (II) (MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture, HEAD – Genève / Institute for Postnatural Studies. Online, 20-21.12.2023)
Interior Ecologies (I): Research on Non-human Environments (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 5-6.12.2022)
Nocturnal History of Architecture (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 6-7.12.2021)
Archipelago: Architectures for the Multiverse (HEAD – Genève / HEPIA. Geneva, 6-8.5.2021)
From the Page to the Screen: Entanglements between Heritage and Media (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 01.12.2020)
Architectural Models: Theory and Practice in Scale (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 2-3.12.2019)
Intimacy Exposed: Toilet, Bathroom, Restroom (HEAD – Genève. Geneva, 10-11.12.2018)