Protest architecture: exhibition at DAM and MAK

“Protests must disrupt, otherwise they would be ineffective. When disturbances extend into public space and take root there, when they permanently block, defend, protect or conquer it, then protest architecture is created”.
We are talking about a current exhibition by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM in cooperation with the Museum of Applied Arts MAK, Vienna. It is entitled “Protest/Architecture. Barricades, Camps, Superglue”.

The DAM now presents one hundred square meters of protest architecture. What does this mean? The exhibition focuses on thirteen protest events between 1968 and 2023, located in Austria, Egypt, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Spain, Ukraine and the USA. The selection process was based on the strong spatial components of the protest camps and the passion, energy and willingness to take risks of the protesters.
The protest architecture is presented through various media. On the one hand, there are detailed models and photographs. One example of this is the 1:10 hanging model of Barrios Beechtown. The Frankfurt director Oliver Hardt also developed the sixteen-minute film installation “Protest/Architecture”. Here you can watch a compilation of documentary footage from eight different protest camps. Another highlight is the original suspension bridge from the tree house protest settlement in Hambach Forest. And the top of a so-called “monopod” from the protest camp in the Fechenheim Forest in Frankfurt am Main, which was cleared in 2023, has made it into the exhibition.

What does architecture have to do with protests, you might ask. In fact, architecture often plays a key role in achieving protest goals.
Protest architectures are spatially demarcated counter-worlds within a society. They manifest themselves in the spatial dimensions of protest movements. Places are then transformed, blocked, marked and defended for various purposes. The French philosopher Michel Foucault called these spatial structures “actually realized utopias”. But they do not necessarily have to be structural. The protesters’ bodies can already be used as a means by occupying spaces and forming formations. For example, individuals who stick themselves to a street with superglue have conquered a piece of space for a limited period of time and act as human barricades.

Protest architectures are more or less expansive, effective, risk-taking, defensive, ironically domestic and, above all, symbolic. They range from ad hoc approaches to prefabrication and the art of engineering. The structures are as diverse in size and shape as the protest movements themselves. The thirteen case studies in the exhibition show which experimental buildings can be created from limited resources in various socio-political contexts. Some protest camps were erected as veritable fortresses. Others were constructed in such a way that thousands of homeless people could set them up within a single night.

The lifespan of protest architecture is determined by the success of the action. But one thing is clear – protest architecture is a race against time. If the protesters succeed, the structures have fulfilled their purpose. If the protest fails, the buildings are usually destroyed immediately.

Speaking of time: from September 16, 2023 to January 14, 2024, the Protest Architecture exhibition will be on display in the interim quarters of the German Architecture Museum DAM OSTEND. From February 14, 2024 until August 25, 2024, it will move to the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts MAK in Vienna. Further information can be found here.