Zones and Memes: Right-Wing Spaces Off and Online

Liberal democracies have been experiencing the rise of authoritarian and (neo)fascist movements and governments for some time. The “Right-wing Spaces” research project has been investigating its spatial dimensions since 2018. From hate-fuelling memes in digital space to revisionist memory architectures and anti-democratic private city projects: Over two evenings, economic, political and media aspects of the global shift to the right—and the resistance against it—will be discussed.

Day 1

4 Apr 2023, 7 pm
Introduction: Philipp Krüpe
Presentations and discussion: Theresia Enzensberger, Paul Mason and Niloufar Tajeri, moderated by Stephan Trüby

Day 2

5 Apr 2023, 7 pm
Introduction: Philipp Krüpe
Presentations and discussion: Gilad Baram, Tiara Roxanne and Simon Strick, moderated by Stephan Trüby

Gilad Baram is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Berlin. His work, spanning a variety of media – film, photography, video, installation and web art – has been screened in numerous international festivals and exhibited in various museums and art institutions worldwide. Among his films are the award-winning documentary Koudelka Shooting Holy Land (2015) and The Disappeared (2018, with Adam Kaplan). 

Theresia Enzensberger is a writer and journalist based in Berlin. She studied film and film studies at Bard College in New York and writes as a freelance author for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Monopol, ZEIT Online and DIE ZEIT, among others. In 2014, she founded BLOCK Magazine, which won Best Newcomer Magazine at the 2016 Lead Awards. Her first novel Blaupause (2017) was awarded the Alfred Döblin Medal. Most recently, she published her second novel Auf See (2022).

Philipp Krüpe is associate researcher at the Institute for the Foundations of Modern Architecture (IGmA), University of Stuttgart. He publishes and works on architectural and media theoretical topics, among others for ARCH+, Baumeister, the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung and various cultural institutions in Germany. Together with Stephan Trüby he is responsible for the research project “Rechte Räume” (“Right-wing Spaces”). He is currently researching the political history of media and affect in modern architectural theory.

Paul Mason is a journalist, writer and film-maker. Among his published books are Postcapitalism: A Guide To Our Future (2015) and How To Stop Fascism (2021). He worked as economics editor at BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News. Currently he writes for, a.o., The New European, Social Europe and Frankfurter Rundschau. He produced, a.o., the independent documentary #ThisIsACoup (2015) and the play Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere for BBC TWO (2018). In 2020 he was awarded the Erich Fromm Prize. He is an activist in the British Labour Party.

Tiara Roxanne is a Tarascan Mestiza scholar and artist based in Berlin. They are currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Data & Society in the Trustworthy Infrastructures research team, developing protocols of trust and safety online with Indigenous communities based in Central and South America. Roxanne’s work is dedicated to rethinking the ethics of AI through an anti-colonial and cyberfeminist lens. In 2022 they took part in the “AI Anarchies Autumn School” at Akademie der Künste. 

Dr. Simon Strick is a scholar of gender studies and media studies at ZeM Brandenburg. He has held positions at the FU Berlin, University of Paderborn, and University of Virginia, among others. His research and teaching focuses on gender and racism theories, popular cultures, affect studies, media and cultural analysis. With Susann Neuenfeldt and Werner Türk, he founded the performance collective PKRK in 2009. For his research and publication Rechte Gefühle. Affekte und Strategien des digitalen Faschismus (2021), he was awarded the Hans Bausch Media Prize 2021.

Niloufar Tajeri is an architect and architectural researcher living in Berlin. She is a PhD candidate of the DFG Research Training Group “Identity and Heritage” at TU Berlin. Her theoretical research focuses on structural racism and coloniality in architecture and urban planning, and on riots and memorial conflicts in the neoliberal city. She also works in the field of applied science investigating feminist spatial practices, post-growth and the social and climate conscious transformation of post-war housing. 

Prof. Dr. phil. Stephan Trüby is Professor of Architectural Theory and Director of the Institute for the Foundations of Modern Architecture and Design (IGmA), University of Stuttgart. Previously, he taught at the HfG Karlsruhe, at the Zurich University of the Arts, at Harvard University and at the TU Munich. His most recent books include Die deutschen Beiträge zur Architekturbiennale Venedig seit 1991 - Eine Oral History (2016, with Verena Hartbaum), Absolute Architekturbeginner: Schriften 2004-2014 (2017), Die Geschichte des Korridors (2018), and Rechte Räume: Politische Essays und Gespräche (2020).