From May 22nd until June 13th, the Design as Politics exhibition which was developed within the framework of the 5th IABR: Making city, will be shown on various locations within the TU Delft, faculty of Architecture. Pass by if you’re around!
Design as Politics
Architecture is politics. Why? Because the city is politics. The city is the place where money, power, business, culture, religion and leisure come together, each fighting for primacy. The exhibition ‘Design as Politics’ shows these fights through spectacular three-dimensional images. They show how an entire district was sacrificed for a beautiful project, how bringing the Olympics to a city can lead to social unrest and how political revolutions can throw a wrench in the works of great architectural projects.
But if architecture is politics, then architects and urbanists must make careful choices in their design and planning. Students within the Design as Politics design studios are therefore challenged to take a clear position in the ongoing urban conflict. The exhibition shows a selection of these projects.
Finally, the exhibition plays the soundtrack of the urban conflict, focusing on how popmusic has always chosen a side concerning the politics of the city. These examples range from Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues, to The Clash’s Guns of Brixton to the Grime music that accompanied the 2011 London riots.
The Design as Politics exhibition is supported by the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), TU Delft, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, the City of Rotterdam, Crimson Architectural Historians, and de Hofbogen B.V.[modula id="2065"]