In conjunction with the exhibition, Aquatic Channels, continuing in the Hawn and Pollock Galleries until February 19, 2023, researcher and architect Paulo Tavares will give an online discussion of the concept of “reparation architecture.”
Tavares gives an overview of his upcoming talk on Monday, January 30 at 5 pm. To register and access the zoom link for this talk, please follow the QR code in the event flyer.
“In this talk I want to explore recent architectural and curatorial projects to speculate on the potential concept of “reparation architecture.” Architecture that seeks to redress structural injustices is generally labelled “social architecture.” Arguably the invention of this concept of the social, within which architectural knowledge has been instrumental, is the product of modern-colonial frameworks defined along class-based and racialized categories that objectify subalternized communities as sites of study and intervention – the “underdeveloped,” the “backward,” the “uncivilized,” the “primitive.” Dwelling on the concept of reparation may open new visions for spatial practices outside the managerial, disciplinary, positivist frame that still hunts architecture, a field of knowledge historically grounded on the ideology that its practice is inherently “good,” working for beautification, betterment, improvement, civilization, progress, development. Towards a concept of “reparation architecture” can enable spatial practices to be conceived as redressing and redrawing social, historic and political bounds beyond charity, help, state patronage, philanthropy and humanitarianism.”
Based in South Africa, Paulo Tavares’ work has been featured in exhibitions and publications worldwide, including Harvard Design Magazine. He has authoredForest Law(2014),Memória da Terra(2018), andDes-Habitat(2019). In 2017, he created the agency autonoma, a platform dedicated to urban research and intervention. Tavares is a long-term collaborator of Forensic Architecture and was a fellow at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (2018-2019). He co-curated the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019.