A selection of conversations between
Markus Miessen and political philosopher Chantal Mouffe.
The second volume in the Critical Spatial Practice
series presents a selection of conversations between
Markus
Miessen and political philosopher Chantal Mouffe. Taking place
intermittently between December 2006 and October 2011, the dialogues
attempt to unpack current dilemmas and popular mobilizations in terms of
consensus-driven formats of political decision making. The conversations
were alternately driven by
Miessen's specific concerns regarding his
ongoing investigation into conflict-based forms of participation as an
alternative (spatial) practice in democratic systems, and Mouffe's
understanding and theory of a “conflictual consensus.”
Thinking in terms of agonism and “demoicracy”—a union
that acknowledges the plurality and permanence of its different
populations—the book proposes new approaches to countering and
responding to the globalizing thrust of neoliberalism.
Markus Miessen (born 1978) is an
architect, consultant, and writer migrating between Berlin, London, and the Middle East. He runs the collaborative agency for spatial practice Studio Miessen (
www.studiomiessen.com), is co-founder of the architectural practice nOffice (
www.noffice.eu), and director of the Winter School Middle East, Kuwait (
www.winterschoolmiddleeast.org). Miessen has taught at institutions such as the Architectural Association (London), Columbia, and MIT. He is currently a Professor for Architecture and Curatorial Practice at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe, Germany, a Harvard Fellow, and completing his PhD at the Centre for Research Architecture (Goldsmiths, London).
Chantal Mouffe (born 1943 in Charleroi) is a Belgian
philosopher and political theorist, formerly teaching at University of Westminster, author, with Ernesto Laclau, of
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy.
