Fascist ideologies have recently taken center stage for the first time in the 21st century, and it has since been up to a media-saturated public to make sense of what appears to be an international phenomenon. Whether as a space of gathering, protection, or protest, it is important to consider architecture's place in the matter by addressing the spatial politics of fascism.
Future history books will recognize November 9th, 2016 as a day of enormous consequence. This was the day that Donald J. Trump was officially elected as the 45th President of the United States, announced only a few months after news of the Brexit referendum and a year before the election of far-right conservative politician Jair Bolsonaro as the 38th President of Brazil. Fascist ideologies had begun taking center stage for the first time in the 21st century, and it has since been up to a media-saturated public to make sense of what appears to be an international phenomenon.
Members of the creative fields were quick to use their respective media to critique the political shift, with notable examples including filmmaker Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans’ Pro-Remain posters developed in protest of the Brexit referendum. For architects and members of the architecture community, however, reactions for or against contemporary politics have been relatively hard to discover. Though architecture is a slow medium compared to film, literature and illustration, there have been demonstrations of political upset within the field, especially among its younger practitioners.
Para-Platforms: On the Spatial Politics of Right Wing Populism, a book recently published by Sternberg Press, outlines several methods by which architects and architectural theorists have considered contemporary trends in politics as essentially spatial issues. The book was put together following an eponymous symposium held in November of 2017 organized by European theorists Markus Miessen and Zoë Ritts, which sought to highlight “the way in which populist politics and their spatial manifestations have been developing recently.” The book leans more heavily on politics than spatial practice, but it is nonetheless a worthwhile read for members of the architecture community hoping to make sense of the current political climate through their work.
Those who practice far-right politics, it seems, either lurk in the isolation of remote areas or the cryptic addresses of the city and its suburbs. Their segregative politics, in short, require them to hide behind façades and far-away places, and their hiding intensifies their segregative politics.
At the symposium, Stephan Trüby shared his research into the ways in which the far-right appropriate architecture. He visited “between three and four hundred addresses of buildings, people and institutions in Europe and in the US” and discovered subtle tendencies in their choices of address, boundary conditions and the colors of their building façades. There was, of course, the frequent use of the number 18 (a German code for A-H, Adolf Hitler), as well as communities known as “völkisch settlements” - bordered territories which have recently been established in the rural areas of Eastern Germany for those fearful of their country’s increasing multiculturalism.
“In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” Trüby writes, “far away from people with immigrant backgrounds, imagined or real, right-wing settlers have a special fondness for rehearsing the “preservation of the German Volk” in extremely low-priced real estate.” Those who practice far-right politics, it seems, either lurk in the isolation of remote areas or the cryptic addresses of the city and its suburbs. Their segregative politics, in short, require them to hide behind façades and far-away places, and their hiding intensifies their segregative politics.
Trüby’s research mirrors some of the findings of an essay written by architect Neeraj Bhatia of The Open Workshop in April of 2017. Titled Environment as Politics, Bhatia argues that the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election reflected a country divided by residential densities: “If you want to predict how someone will vote,” Bhatia writes, “ask, How near are your neighbors?” Bhatia produced a complimentary series of diagrammatic illustrations showing how the 2016 election was essentially a battle between a handful of densely vertical cities and a multitude of sparse hinterlands.
...with a like-minded audience much larger than that found in any individual rural community, the leaderlessness and spacelessness of the Internet quickly made it a breeding ground for opinions too hateful to express in urban settings.
Though followers of far-right politics have long chosen to either find refuge in smaller, isolated areas or behind closed doors in city centers, they have also notably gained traction in cyberspace. In her essay The Leaderless Digital Counterrevolution, writer Angela Nagle reflects on the short-sighted optimism towards the leaderlessness of movements on the Internet of the early 2010’s that emerged “in response to a series of political events around the world from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to new politicized hacker movements.” However, with a like-minded audience much larger than that found in any individual rural community, the leaderlessness and spacelessness of the Internet quickly made it a breeding ground for opinions too hateful to express in urban settings.
For an ideology based on principles of brute force and power, fascism seems to require a lot of hiding. The current methods by which far-right idealogues protect themselves, whether in isolated regions, behind closed doors or the anonymity of the Internet, have challenged anti-fascist activists to become creative in their forms of protest. One of architectural significance took place in the remote village of Bornhagen, Germany, when in 2017 the artist collective Zentrum für Politische Schönheit (Center for Political Beauty) staged a protest against far-right parliamentary party leader Björn Höcke.
Aside from specific forms of protest and in-depth knowledge of how they uniquely inhabit space (and the spacelessness of the Internet), how can architects produce spaces which foster the complexity of the current era and reject its erroneous simplification through positive community building?
Shortly after Höcke publicly criticized Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, calling it a “memorial of shame for Germany,” the collective acquired the home next to his and installed a scale replica of the Holocaust Memorial on their front lawn for Höcke to forcibly encounter every day. According to their artist statement, “Every stela was made by hand,” and is “durable enough to withstand harsh weather as well as attacks from Nazis.” They describe their antifascist architectural landmark as “a bulwark for a democracy that is prepared to defend itself.”
Fascism has made a comeback because it provides easy answers to complex issues, and these are complex times. Fascism is, artist Hito Steyerl once wrote, “a panic button for blocking off annoying remnants of reality.” Against its resurgence, how should the architecture community respond? Aside from specific forms of protest and in-depth knowledge of how they uniquely inhabit space (and the spacelessness of the Internet), how can architects produce spaces which foster the complexity of the current era and reject its erroneous simplification through positive community building?
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"Shortly after Höcke publicly criticized Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, calling it a “memorial of shame for Germany,” the collective acquired the home next to his and installed a scale replica of the Holocaust Memorial on their front lawn for Höcke to forcibly encounter every day. "
Trolling by architecture, love it!
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it’s hard to write about all of the flaws in this article without taking a few days off. Far-right and far-left politics are equally oppressive and murderous. They are also equally nationalistic. Let’s first get that FACT out there. The common thread is authoritative centralized govt. the chart with cities and Clinton vs low density....I nearly puked in my mouth. This is such poor analysis that I’m really at a loss of words. Also, it would help to define the word “fascism”. You are using it synonymously with nationalism I believe. The two are not the same.
D-
This bears repeating: Fascism has made a comeback because it provides easy answers to complex issues, and these are complex times.
It's really easy to disappear into easy answers. Blinders make the world much easier to handle. But that doesn't help anyone.
Like this.
The simple path looks a lot like what Bernie is selling. Complicated problems..simple answer
.”make it free!”
There should actually be two other paths included: "Simple but True" and "Complex but Wrong".
"Their segregative politics, in short, require them to hide behind façades and far-away places, and their hiding intensifies their segregative politics." - describing architects and designers, rendering and virtue signalling their way into further irrelevance from the general population.
Look, there's some great work here- we need more thought on how politics effects the built environment and vice versa, not mention, the memorial scale replica is a total own. But, what would be actually interesting is if architects tried to actually understand why nationalism and 'fascism' are on the rise, and design strategies to address the conditions that drive people to support those movements.
Fascism has always lurked in the shadows, but now seems to be coming out to play in part because of liberalism's push to the far left, partly because we've lost the ability to talk in a way most people understand. As a liberal, I'm happy there are many good candidates on the Democratic side. My fear is if a moderate get's picked, the far left will anger and stay home, giving us another four years of cruelty and incompetence. Compromise is not a bad word, in fact it's something architects do all day long.
"Shortly after Höcke publicly criticized Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, calling it a “memorial of shame for Germany,” the collective acquired the home next to his and installed a scale replica of the Holocaust Memorial on their front lawn for Höcke to forcibly encounter every day. "
Trolling by architecture, love it!
Financed by Israel, no doubt.
...
The word “fascist” is thrown around like candy, but what exactly does that mean? The author says that the date of the election of Trump will be remembered as the date when fascist ideologies took center stage. I think Trump is many things, a lot of them very bad, but he’s hardly a fascist, certainly not in the mold of mid-20th century fascism. How is Trump a “fascist”, specifically? How are the supporters of Brexit fascists?
This is yet another article that might be titled, “Pregressive City Dwellers: We’ve invented more reasons for you to hate the people who live in the rural areas you never travel to.” Talk about “simple answers”. This is divisive and anti-intellectual. How about we talk to each other, make arguments and hash them out respectfully, and not simply assume that anyone who’s closer to the opposite end of the political spectrum is evil?
Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of radical right-wing, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
1often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorialleader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
In other words...it's someone with dictatorial tendencies who wants to silence the press and divide people, all the while wrapping himself in the flag... or at least hugging it forcefully.
Funny thing is that Antifa and the far-left all fit a similar description. They use violence, suppression of speech, and advocate a strong centralized government that requires police force to seize property for redistribution. No mention...instead they project Their own evil onto another smaller equally evil group to distract from the horrors of their brand of authoritarianism.
Anyone who doesn’t see this is either willfully ignorant or plain dumb. Authoritarian politics and centralized govt are the problem. Right vs left are different brands of the same thing. Many people these days are willing to accept left authoritarianism over right authoritarianism because it’s seems to lack the race element. The left wants to enslave everyone equally, the right wants to enslave a particular group and make the rest loyal followers. Both very very bad. Reject all authoritarian politics. Liberty is the only way folks.
The difference is the Antifa aren't inside the democratic establishment to the extent the right wingers are in the republican establishment. Look at that guy Steve King of Iowa who thinks there's some difference between light and dark skin immigrants. He's been front and center of the party. Both sides have extremes of course, it's just to what extent is the power base reliant to placating them. It could swing back to the left side of the dial, but this is exactly why maintaining a pluralist center is sooo important. Can the Republicans police their own?
I don’t see the Republican party as becoming more fascist...More nationalist yes...but the height of recent fascism in the US was post 9-11 when Bush and Cheney were in charge. Racism is not fascism. Racism has existed in both parties. The Dem party was the party of the kkk at one point. Regardless, my point is that all forms of authoritarianism are bad. Focusing on one particular version as the problem, while ignoring the other, inadvertently or purposefully seems to promote allegiance to other forms of authoritarianism who have the power to stomp out the particular version in focus. This is reflected in our architecture and is completely relevant to any architecture discussion. We have 3 main problems. 1) authoritarianism in all of its flavors seems to be a feature of human nature when we organize in large groups. 2) merger of state and corporate interests. 3) imperialism / war and the military industrial complex.
These 3 issues influence our architectural and overall spatial organization in so many ways. We cannot have a serious discussion on the influence of politics on architecture without acknowledging the reality of authoritarianism vs libertarianism.
Because both left and right authoritarianism share some very very specific traits. The degree of authoritarianism is directly related to the degree of social, economic, and spatial order. Authoritarian systems seek to reduce the complexity of these networks to exert control. There is a parallel in there to Delerious NY, I’ll elaborate when I have more time...
Trump is a blowhard, and is full of shit most of the time, but he has really done nothing on the "fascism" list, nor does he really have the power to do so. If you separate Trump's foul personality and undiciplined mouth from actual policy, well:
- The American government is no more "centralized" or "autocratic" than it was under previous Presidents.
- Trump may be a dick, but he's not a dictator.
- There has been no "forcible suppression of opposition", or "severe economic and social regimentation".
I think he's a dreadful mess, but this kind of hyperbole really does no good for the cause of Trump's critics, IMO. People know it's over-the-top, and stop listening when they hear it.
+++++Erik
All that being said, I can't believe that we have a President that poses for a photo like the one Thayer posted. What a jerk.
My point is Trump has displayed dictator qualities and has threatened to imprison critics from the media while advocating violence, a form of terror employed by dictators. History shows when tendencies make themselves present, it's best to take them seriously before they come into full bloom. As I said, he's "someone with dictatorial tendencies", but thankfully the system our founding fathers created still works. I agree calling him a fascist to most Americans might be a turn off, but among history geeks, this guy is no joke . Just because he's a buffoon, I wouldn't turn my back on him for a New York second. Never forget this is a man who bragged about assaulting women and denigrates people on a daily basis.
I like the fact that the president is a clown. We shouldn’t take the office seriously. The idea that the president is some kind of moral leader who deserves our admiration and respect is imo more dictator like than a president that no one takes seriously and constantly mocks.
I think we should take the office of president very seriously. Trump was just caught on camera agreeing with Putin about the "fake news". At what point do you stop believing your lying eyes? Not to be historicist but we've seen this show before. My hope is that the party who've claimed God for ever remembers what they heard in church.
Yeah, but shouldn’t elevate them to moral leaders or royal elites. I learned that at the church of punk.
Agreed. All I'm saying is that a federal prosecutor shouldn't be able to come up with a list of crimes. Common sense stuff, not looking for the second coming of Jay-C or nutt'n.
Funny. It could easily be argued that Eisenman's memorial is fascist architecture.
Better watch out, Miles. You’re not permitted to criticize it. The protestors will be showing up at your house any minute.
After buying the adjacent property and building the site-specific work:
The state classified the Center for Political Beauty as a criminal organization under §129 of the German Criminal Code. This is a direct violation of the which guarantees the freedom of art. And so, the Center for Political Beauty is denounced as an organization whose primary purpose is to commit serious criminal offences. On a list published by the Government of the state of Thuringia, we find ourselves next to twelve terrorist organizations such as "Islamic State"(ISIS) and "Al Nusra Front".
https://politicalbeauty.com/
The 'Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe' is a complete failure. It looks like a staging yard for a giant construction project like a dam or breakwater for a large port. The large concrete blocks, not being reinforced, are already falling apart from reports I have read. Any educated person could come up with 100s of ideas from classical to ultra-modern that would address the subject better. It really is an insult to the people if presumes to honor.
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