capital architecture

london, where marx spent most of his life and wrote his main work "capital", suffers from the biggest housing crisis since the second world war. the city has become a case study of neoliberal politics which privatises social housing and public space and hands both over to speculation. even the home has been turned into capital. architecture is not only commodity, but investment and has to create a rate of return. neoliberal real estate economy is profit-oriented and not interested in the use-value of buildings for the individual or society. 

this problem which increasingly also becomes apparent in german cities, is analysed in video-interviews with the architectural theoreticians anna minton and douglas spencer from london. patrik schumacher, principal of zaha hadid architects with more than 400 architects globally, explains how he turned from a marxist into an advocate of "anarcho-capitalism". massimo de angelis, leading theoretician of the new commons-movement, takes the opposite position, proposing a sustainable production and administration of resources through participatory organisation. 

mario carpo, professor at the bartlett school of architecture, discusses the marxist notion of alienation in the context of the advent of mass customization. he draws parallels to the medieval crafts, especially with concern to the spatial unity of working and living. the sociologist alois hahn eventually draws connections between marx´s theories, his origin and his city of birth, trier, by reminding us of his jewish roots and humanist education. 

for the photo-series "working men´s clubs" the photographer immo klink was commissioned to document the spaces and members of their last remaining examples in london. the "working men´s clubs" were founded during marx´s lifetime to provide leisure, education and political agitation for the new class of proletarians. together with her friend william morris, one of the founders of the arts and crafts movement, marx´s daughter eleanor used to teach there. as these clubs are based on participation and collective property, they probably come closest to marx´s social ideas. 

 the "akkumulator" is a spatial installation by harald trapp and robert thum which refers to the "enclosure of commons", the privatisation of the common land in great britain, which marx defined as the origin of modern capitalism. the "akkumulator" uses simple standardised garage-doors to demonstrate that an enclosure in architecture does not necessarily mean expropriation, but can also encourage appropriation. within the given structure the visitors can determine their place and produce their space by opening and closing the doors. 

 harald trapp / robert thum

we thank for special support:

förderkreis der hochschule trier e.v. patricia gückel, brian hoy, jan weber, jakobus schwarz