COORDINATOR
Ana Morcillo Pallares
PROFESSORS
Matias del Campo, Dawn Gilpin, Peter Halquist, Perry Kulper, Steven Mankouche,
Julia McMorrough, Kevin Moultrie-Daye, Ana Morcillo Pallares, Gina Reichert,
Neal Robinson,
Christian Unverzagt,
Craig Wilkins
STUDIO THEME
“Embassies”
Embassies, spaces of exception, little islands of ‘back home’, symbolically charged buildings, are far from ordinary, uniquely defined by domestic politics, foreign affairs, and the complex set of representational requirements. From the glamorous Modernism of embassies built during the Cold War to a new era of urgent security measures, suburban exile and a heavy fortification, these representations of power in a foreign land still raise many questions. Embassies have historically been visible signs of unequal relationships between the guest and the host . An unbalanced relationship of species of what Octavio Paz has called “pseudo-modernity”, stagnant elements of local culture into futuristic designs which underscored “the worst of the two worlds: strident cultural imperialism coexisting with trappings of archaic and often repressive sociopolitical infrastructures of the host country.” (1)
Today, in a time of armed conflicts between major powers, shifting balances, rapid globalization, rising nationalisms, socioeconomic stress, and depredatory geopolitics of energy, what can we learn from the invention and emergence of the embassy building as an institution? How does its representational role mediate the ongoing disruption of the international context? And, what new possibilities might shape for itself in the quest for greater equity within our community?
(1) Octavio Paz, “Eroticism and Gastrosophy,” Daedalus 10
