Archinect - Features

AI Bias and Digital Colonialism; A Conversation with Morehshin Allahyari

2023-10-16T08:16:00-04:00

Whether through her art, writings, or lectures, Morehshin Allahyari's work evokes a range of emotions among its audience. There is wonder and intrigue at her reinterpretation of centuries-old Middle Eastern stories, images, and artifacts. There is introspection on our preconceived views on concepts from open-source data to digital archiving. Finally, there is a blend of frustration and motivation to act as Allahyari takes us on a journey through the exploitative history of colonial power relations between the West and the Middle East.

Using 3D simulation, video, sculpture, and digital fabrication, Allahyari warns us of a modern landscape in which power dynamics straddle both digital and physical worlds, articulating her theory of Digital Colonialism as a "framework for critically examining the tendency for information technologies to be deployed in ways that reproduce colonial power relations." In an age of artificial intelligence, the messages and critiques found within Allahyari's...

Sino-African Architecture; A Look at the Rise of Chinese-Built Projects Across the African Continent

2020-02-18T11:46:00-05:00

A boom in Sino-African trade relations since 2000 has catapulted China from being a relatively small investor in Africa into becoming the continent's largest economic partner. This shift, in combination with a decreasing profit margin for construction projects in mainland China, has encouraged both Chinese state-owned construction firms (SOC’s) and private contractors to seek new project opportunities on African soil. In 2011, Chinese contractors surpassed European construction companies to become the biggest player in the continent’s construction explosion and rapid urbanization.

In addition to SOC and private enterprise developments, there is a strong political will from Beijing to increase Chinese presence in Africa. At the close of the ‘China-Africa Forum for Cooperation’ summit held in 2018, the Chinese government announced that it had set up a new $60 billion funding pot for the development of projects on the African continent. Today Chinese firms, with their proven track reco...

Uncovering the Architecture of Colonialism with 'The Funambulist'

2017-03-01T07:56:00-05:00

The Funambulist is a bimestrial online and print journal founded by the French architect Léopold Lambert in 2015. Operating alongside a blog and a podcast, The Funambulist critically engages with some of the most pressing issues of the day, focusing on the political relationships between bodies and the built environment. Their tenth issue, released today, contends with the role of architecture in colonialism, understood here not as a "delimited period" but rather as a "continuous process" and "system of domination". To celebrate the issue’s launch, Archinect is featuring the introduction, which is written by Lambert, edited slightly for clarity.