The Space of Agonism

What, today, can be understood as a critical modality of spatial practice? This question, and others, were posed to protagonists from the fields of architecture, art, philosophy, and literature by architectural theorists and curators Nikolaus Hirsch and Markus Miessen in September, 2011. The resulting 64 contributions in this inaugural volume of the Critical Spatial Practice series co presented by the Städelschule, were composed concurrently with the evictions of Occupy movements, sustained turmoil of the Arab Spring, and continued spasms in the global financial system. All point to the question of whether architecture can still be understood as a res publica. Each title in the series will include new work commissioned by invited artists here, the photographer Armin Linke.