Markus Miessen (*1978, Bonn) is an architect, spatial consultant and writer migrating between Berlin, London, and the Middle East. In 2002, he set up Studio Miessen; a collaborative agency for spatial practice and cultural analysis and in 2007 was founding partner of the now Berlin-based architectural practice nOffice (www.nOffice.eu). Miessen studied at the Glasgow School of Art (BArch), graduated from the Architectural Association in London with Honors (AADiplHons) and received a Master in Research degree from the London Consortium (MRes). He is currently a PhD candidate at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, London. His work has been exhibited widely, at the Lyon, Venice, Performa (NYC), Gwangju, Manifesta, and Shenzhen biennials, and has received various awards and prizes from many places including the Flemisch Government (Brussels), Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur (Amsterdam), Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Berlin), the Henry Saxon Snell Prize, and was nominated for the RIBA Silver Medal. In 2010, Miessen was selected for the Long list (100) for the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst (Berlin) and became a member of the European Cultural Parliament. Miessen is frequently co-organizing conferences, curating exhibitions, and is teaching and lecturing at many international institutions. In 2008 he initiated and is now directing the Winter School Middle East (Dubai/ Kuwait). In 2010, he also worked as a Harvard fellow on a research project in Kuwait, with Joseph Grima. From 2004-08 Miessen taught as a Unit Master at the Architectural Association (London), in 2009/10 he was Visiting Professor at the Berlage Institute (Rotterdam), from 2010-12 he is Visiting Professor at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (Karlsruhe) and the Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, HEAD (Geneva). From October 2011, Miessen will launch a new professorship for Critical Spatial Practice at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Städelschule (Frankfurt).
[Zawia] In this issue of Zawia themed ‘Change’, we are discussing the implications of the rapidly changing political and social realities on architecture and the role of the architect. One of the ideas that we will discuss is the effect of ‘connectedness’ of networked individuals on possible futures of architecture and urbanism. Within your views on participation shifting away from populist romanticisation of political participation, how do you see the possible role of architects within this continuously changing situation? [Markus Miessen] The role and the potential alternative roles of the architect is something that I have been interested in for some time. Over the last couple of years I have been investigating what I call Crossbench Praxis, a mode of practice, which, instead of fostering an all-inclusive model of participatory practice
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when it comes to architecture and the built environment, focuses on a 1st person singular mode of engagement, creating a sensibility towards the necessity of assuming responsibility. The term ‘participation’ has often been misused as a tool for populist political legitimization rather than a tool that enables and produces actual situations. From my point of view it is increasingly important to both understand and communicate that change starts with you (yourself !) and not someone else or a group of potential stakeholders or constituencies. In my book The Nightmare of Participation, which may – at times – read like a redneck liberal or even conservative approach to the subject matter, I am propagating a practice that takes precisely this issue of responsibility into account. Architects, as a case study, may come in handy in this regard as they often stand between the frontlines of the respective clients,
CrossBenching: How to Design Spaces of Fertile Friction. Markus Miessen