Theories of Modernity & the Subject

Critique of contemporary architecture under ideological capitalism

Fascism & Modern Architecture

Theories of Modernity & the Subject

This project pursues Le Corbusier’s engagement with French fascism in the birth of the modern city industrial complex. It is virtually unknown that Le Corbusier participated in an urban dialogue with the first group in France to call itself fascist Le Faisceau, via his friendship with the biologist Pierre Winter. Their construction of the biological body in the new political order significantly contributed to the intellectual formation of the modern movement.

Theories of Modernity & the Subject

Architecture for a Free Subjectivity (Farnam UK, Burlington US) Ashgate, 2011 reformulated the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze's model of subjectivity for architecture, by surveying the impersonal effects of architectural encounter, and the spaces that figure in them. It was endorsed by Anthony Vidler, Dean at The Cooper Union NY, and Art Theorist, John Rajchman, Columbia University.

http://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Free-Subjectivity

Books Brott, Simone. Architecture for a Free Subjectivity: Deleuze and Guattari at the Horizon of the Real. Farnam (UK), Burlington (US): Ashgate, 2011.

Refereed Journal Articles Brott, Simone. "Collective Equipments of Power: The Road and the City." Thresholds: Journal of the MIT Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 40, Special Issue: Socio: the Socially Conscious Architectural Project (Spring 2012): 47-54.

Brott, Simone. "Deleuze and the Intercessors." Log: Observations on Architecture and the City 18, New York: Anycorp (Winter 2010): 135-51.

Brott, Simone. "Close Encounter, Withdrawn Effects." Journal of Architectural Education 61, no. 4, Performance Architecture (2008): 6-16.

Brott, Simone. "Inside the Fold: The Form of Form." AD Architectural Design Profile 138: Sci-fi Architecture 69, no. 3/4 (March 1999): VI-IX.

Book Chapters Brott, Simone. "Toward a Theory of the Architectural Subject." In Deleuze and Architecture, edited by Hélène Frichot and Stephen Loo. 151-67. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, May 2013.

Invited Lectures Brott, Simone. "The Subject and Architecture." In Architecture Seminar Series. Invited Presentation on my book Architecture for a Free Subjectivity, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Michigan University, Taubmann College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2012.

Brott, Simone. "A Theory of the Affective Body: Deleuze, Space, Bodies." edited by Peter Hegarty. Invited Lecture, New Haven: Yale School of Architecture & Department of Women & Gender Studies, Yale University, Spring 2004.

Brott, Simone. "Architecture and Affect." In Invited Seminar. Host: Yale School of Architecture, Yale University, Invited guests: Simone Brott, Peggy Deamer, Brian Massumi, Gary Genosko, Elizabeth Grosz, Fall 2003.

Selected Writings

Contemporary architecture and capitalism

Architecture Post Mortem (Farnam UK, Burlington US) Ashgate, 2013 surveys architecture's encounter with death, decline, and ruination under late capitalism. As the world moves closer to an economic abyss that many perceive to be the death of capital, contraction and crisis are no longer mere phases of normal market fluctuations, but rather the irruption of the unconscious of ideology itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Post-Mortem

Contemporary architecture and capitalism

Architecture Post Mortem (Farnam UK, Burlington US) Ashgate, 2013 surveys architecture's encounter with death, decline, and ruination under late capitalism. As the world moves closer to an economic abyss that many perceive to be the death of capital, contraction and crisis are no longer mere phases of normal market fluctuations, but rather the irruption of the unconscious of ideology itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Post-Mortem

Books Brott, Simone, Donald Kunze, and David Bertolini, eds. Architecture Post Mortem: The Diastolic Architecture of Decline, Dystopia, and Death. Farnam (UK), Burlington (US): Ashgate, 2013.

Refereed Journal Articles Brott, Simone. "Reflections from Damaged Modernity: A Primer in Iconic Architecture." (to be submitted to open issue Log: Observations on Architecture and the City, New York: Anycorp (Fall 2015).

Brott, Simone. "Modernity’s Opiate, or the Crisis of Iconic Architecture." Log: Observations on Architecture and the Contemporary City 26, New York: Anycorp (Fall 2012): 49-59.

Book Chapters Brott, Simone. "The Iconic and the Critical." In Essays on Critical Practice: Praxis Re-Loaded, edited by Gevork Hartoonian. Farnam (UK), Burlington (US): Ashgate, Forthcoming June 2015.

Brott, Simone. "Dead or Alive in Joburg." In Architecture Post Mortem: The Diastolic Architecture of Decline, Dystopia, and Death, edited by Simone Brott, Donald Kunze and David Bertolini. 31-50. Farnam (UK), Burlington (US): Ashgate, February 2013.

Conference Papers/ Invited Lectures Brott, Simone. "Reflections from Damaged Modernity." In Architecture, Critical Project and Negative Thought, edited by Nadir Lahiji and Patrick Stein. Canberra: University of Canberra, 30-31 March 2015.

Brott, Simone. "The Iconic Architecture Industry." In The Second PhilArch Conference: Architecture and Image, edited by Dr. Daniel Dahlstrom, Bryan Norwood and Elizabeth Robinson. Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, in collaboration with Boston University, Department of Philosophy, October 19-20, 2012.

Brott, Simone. "Violent Urbanism Is Us." In Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand SAHANZ, Audience, The 28th Annual SAHANZ Conference, edited by Antony Moulis and Deborah van der Plaat. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 7-10 July 2011.

SelectedWritings

Genealogies of Modern Architecture: Le Corbusier and Biopolitics

This project pursues Le Corbusier’s engagement with French fascism in the birth of the modern city industrial complex. It is virtually unknown that Le Corbusier participated in an urban dialogue with the first group in France to call itself fascist Le Faisceau, via his friendship with the biologist Pierre Winter. Their construction of the biological body in the new political order significantly contributed to the intellectual formation of the modern movement.

The project has assembled an international team including: Dr Simone Brott, Associate Professor Antony Moulis, The University of Queensland; Professor Mark Antliff, Duke University (US); and 2 postgraduate candidates: Toby Douglas Mackay and Ashley Wood. It received $20,000 in funding for an archival study at the Fondation le Corbusier, France, the largest collection of Le Corbusier’s work in the world. Our project will result in a book Le Corbusier and Biopolitics; an international symposium on modern architecture and revolutionary politics to be held at Duke University in 2017; and an edited book. In February 2015, we submitted an ARC Discovery grant, pending announcement in November. We are presently preparing a submission to the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, US.

Selected Writings

Brott, Simone. “Esprit Futur” Log: Observations on Architecture and the City 23, New York: Anycorp (Fall 2011): 84-96.

Brott, Simone. “Architecture et révolution : Le Corbusier and the Fascist Revolution.” Thresholds: Journal of the MIT Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 41, (Spring 2013).

Brott, Simone. “In the Shadow of the Enlightenment: Le Corbusier and Georges Valois.” In Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand SAHANZ, The 30th Annual SAHANZ Conference, 2-5 July 2013.