“Cultures of Assembly”, which was originally devised in the context of Markus Miessen’s programme “Architecture and Critical Spatial Practice” at the Städelschule in Frankfurt,rethinks formal and informal acts of social assembly and what species of architectural setting those forms and formats of discursive organization may necessitate. In the context of this ongoing spatial as well as socio-political investigation, Miessen will present a series of projects devised by Studio Miessen, Berlin. The talk aims to produce a trajectory through different modes of his practice, interested in concerns such as consensus/dissensus, collaboration, discursive space, and spatial politics — jumping in scales from city to building to furniture.

Markus Miessen (1978) is an architect and writer. The initiator of the Participation tetralogy, his work revolves around questions of critical spatial practice, institution building, and spatial politics. His practice, Studio Miessen, is currently working on projects for and with EACC Castellon, Artsonje Seoul, Hamburger Kunstverein, Istanbul Biennale, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Bergen Assembly, Performa Biennial, Witte de With, Kosovo National Gallery, Weltkulturen Museum, and the artists Hito Steyerl and Denes Farkas. Their largest project to date is a strategic framework and new Kunsthalle building for a former NATO military site in Germany. In 2008, Miessen founded the Winter School Middle East (Kuwait). He used to be professor for Critical Spatial Practice at the Städelschule, Frankfurt, and is now professor-in-practice at HEAD, Geneva, as well as at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. http://www.studiomiessen.com/