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The acknowledgement that most criticism is not intended to be taken seriously, is key if we want to escape the role of critic as acolyte of architecture practice and use criticism to repoliticize architecture. Therefore we propose to rethink criticism on the basis of the strategy of overidentification, it is a counter-strategy in which artists identify with the current trends in such an excessive way that it becomes rather difficult to digest. The question is whether and how the strategy of overidentification translates to the field of architecture.The research is a theoretical reflection on the critical architectural practice of the office called BAVO, the collective of architect-philosophers co-founded by the author and Matthias Pauwels in the early 2000s. After first studying the art of overidentification as a strategy for cultural activism, BAVO has been applying the strategy in the work of criticism, using it as a methodological tool by which to break open the ideological function of what we call inherent criticism. Over the years, various social issues were on the table, ranging from regional development, city marketing and art in the public space to spatial management, humane detention and mental healthcare. In the narrative account of each critical intervention, we reflect on defining moments, successes as much as failures.The goal is to show how different tactics for critical intervention were forged within the scope of overidentification, shifting from identity correction to provocative affirmation, ignorant mediation and commoning of paradoxes. Also we aim to show how the strategy of overidentification and its wider psychoanalytical framework allows to re-imagine architectural criticism and establish a critical practice that plays on different registers to instigate processes of awareness and change.

Philosophy --- Architecture --- criticism --- architectuurfilosofie --- BAVO Research

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The Flanders Architectural Yearbook 2008 edition is a survey of architecture projects, publications, exhibitions, talks, competitions and prizes from the past two years. Thirty two projects are examined in detail through drawings, photographs and text, and include large-scale and public buildings (including the Antwerp Law Court by Richard Rogers Partnership, VK Studio and OVe Arup & Partners) as well as houses and conversions. A very good collection of contemporary architecture. (www.vai.be - juin 2009)

Architecture contemporaine --- Années 2000 --- Flandre-région --- Arkitecture --- History --- Flandre

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'Forms of activism as democracy in the city' is a tiny booklet that sketches a wide panorama of political, urban and architectural activism. The book is an introduction to the course Architecture and Activism taught by Lieven De Cauter and Gideon Boie. It is written in collaboration with Léa Denièle and Eneida Berisha. Artwork by Cinéma Jolia.The book is part of the ‘Institution Building’ exhibition by CIVA, in the chapter on Agency, held in Brussels from 27 August to 7 November 2021 and curated by Nikolaus Hirsch, Matylda Krzykowski and Cédric Libert.—Short introduction : In this text we will try and sketch the broad field of activism, giving a general overview by zooming in on different forms of action and zooming out. At the crossroads of city and activism, we think it is possible to distinguish three big clusters of activism: first, political actions in the city, like street marches, occupations, and actions of civil disobedience, that mostly take place in the city but have a scope that is not linked per se to urban matters; second, urban activism, whose direct aim is the transformation of the city, the neighbourhood and the community; and third, architectural activism, which tries to contribute to the transformation of society from the specific angle of the profession of architect and/or the urban disciplines. The oxymoron of architectural activism is, in a sense, the holy grail this text is most interested in as it is the core of our business. It is a difficult one, as architecture is by nature in the service of money and power, while activism is mostly in opposition to money and power. By expanding the concept of architecture and redefining the role of the architect, some practices of architectural activism point in promising directions. Before we start the search for the holy grail of architectural activism, we will have to pass through the city as the ur-scene of political activism.

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