Is there an architectural and urban planning agenda at work behind the politics of contemporary (neo-)fascists and populist, radical and extremist right-wing forces? The Right-Wing Spaces research project, which has been running since 2018 at the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture (Design and Theory) (IGmA) at the University of Stuttgart (director: Prof. Dr. Stephan Trüby), suggests that the answer to this question is fairly unequivocal, not only in the German context: ‘architecture … seems to have become a key tool of an authoritarian, populist right with a revisionist take on history.’ The interim findings of the project were presented in ARCH+ 235: ‘Rechte Räume: Bericht einer Europareise’ (Right-wing spaces: report on a journey through Europe; 2019), an issue that was guest-curated by the IGmA, as well as in Trüby’s book Rechte Räume: Politische Essays und Gespräche (Right-wing spaces: political essays and conversations; 2020). In his Prague lecture, Stephan Trüby, will present some of his insights in the context of recent debates about Pierre Nora’s lieux de mémoire (sites of memory) and Michael Rothberg’s ‘Multidirectional Memory’.

Prof. Dr. phil. Stephan Trüby (* 1970) is Professor of Architecture and Cultural Theory and Director of the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture (IGmA) at the University of Stuttgart since April 2018. Previously, Trüby was Visiting Professor of Architecture at the State College of Design in Karlsruhe (2007-09), Head of the postgraduate study program “Scenography/Spatial Design” at the Zurich University of the Arts (2009-14) and Professor of Architecture and Cultural Theory at the Technical University of Munich (2014-18). His publications include Exit-Architecture. Design between War and Peace (2008), The World of Madelon Vriesendorp (2008, with Shumon Basar), Germania, Venezia. The German Entries to the Venice Architecture Biennale since 1991 (2016, with Verena Hartbaum), Absolute Architekturbeginner: Schriften 2004-2014 (Absolute Beginners of Architecture. Essays 2004-2014; 2017), Die Geschichte des Korridors (History of the Corridor; 2018) and Rechte Räume. Politische Essays und Gespräche (Right-wing Spaces. Political Essays and Conversations; 2020). He is a permanent contributor to the journal ARCH+.