Michael Obrist
in conversation with
in conversation with
Markus Miessen
Proximities – on Crossbenching as Third Practice
Wohngespräche
18. November 2025
Markus Miessen
Michael Obrist [feld72] in conversation with Markus Miessen about "Proximities – on Crossbenching as Third Practice"
Miessen’s talk will address his work on cultures of assembly, stressing the relevance of small-scale and decentralized spatial formats of local knowledge production to community building and embedded political decision-making in the context of the socio-ecological transition. It reinforces the role of both individual and collective action while proposing distributed assembly and proximity as core attributes in the production of the contemporary and future city. It calls for a revised form of spatial politics. Miessen’s ongoing research trajectory Cultures of Assembly investigates the sociopolitical dimension of (urban) spatial design. It articulates a curatorial impetus towards urban policy making in conjunction with spatial proximity as a tool to mediate between the individual, the collective, the neighbourhood, the city, state politics, and society at large. If we understand assembly as a form of spatial gathering, and the bonfire as the prehistoric space of assembly, what constitutes its contemporary equivalent?
Markus Miessen
Markus Miessen is an architect and writer, and in 2021 was appointed Professor of Urban Regeneration at the University of Luxembourg, where he holds the Chair of the City of Esch. Miessen has previously taught at the Architectural Association (London), the Berlage Institute (Rotterdam), has been a Harvard GSD Fellow (Cambridge), and has held professorships at Städelschule (Frankfurt), HEAD (Geneva), the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), and HDK-Valand (Gothenburg). He received his PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, London, supervised by Eyal Weizman. His work revolves around questions of critical spatial practice, institution building, and spatial politics. As a spatial consultant, he currently works with the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. He previously worked with the EU Commission, non-governmental organisations, the Republic of Slovenia during their presidency of the EU council, as well as many cultural and art institutions globally. Amongst many other books and writings, Miessen is the author of “The Nightmare of Participation” and “Crossbenching” (Sternberg Press). He has edited volumes such as “Para-Platforms: on the spatial politics of right-wing populism”, “The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict”, “Agonistic Assemblies, on the spatial politics of horizontality”, and, with Nikolaus Hirsch, is the co-editor of the book series “Critical Spatial Practice”. Since 2024, he is also a Dean’s Visiting Professor at Columbia GSAPP, NY.
studiomiessen.com
Miessen’s talk will address his work on cultures of assembly, stressing the relevance of small-scale and decentralized spatial formats of local knowledge production to community building and embedded political decision-making in the context of the socio-ecological transition. It reinforces the role of both individual and collective action while proposing distributed assembly and proximity as core attributes in the production of the contemporary and future city. It calls for a revised form of spatial politics. Miessen’s ongoing research trajectory Cultures of Assembly investigates the sociopolitical dimension of (urban) spatial design. It articulates a curatorial impetus towards urban policy making in conjunction with spatial proximity as a tool to mediate between the individual, the collective, the neighbourhood, the city, state politics, and society at large. If we understand assembly as a form of spatial gathering, and the bonfire as the prehistoric space of assembly, what constitutes its contemporary equivalent?
Markus Miessen
Markus Miessen is an architect and writer, and in 2021 was appointed Professor of Urban Regeneration at the University of Luxembourg, where he holds the Chair of the City of Esch. Miessen has previously taught at the Architectural Association (London), the Berlage Institute (Rotterdam), has been a Harvard GSD Fellow (Cambridge), and has held professorships at Städelschule (Frankfurt), HEAD (Geneva), the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), and HDK-Valand (Gothenburg). He received his PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, London, supervised by Eyal Weizman. His work revolves around questions of critical spatial practice, institution building, and spatial politics. As a spatial consultant, he currently works with the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. He previously worked with the EU Commission, non-governmental organisations, the Republic of Slovenia during their presidency of the EU council, as well as many cultural and art institutions globally. Amongst many other books and writings, Miessen is the author of “The Nightmare of Participation” and “Crossbenching” (Sternberg Press). He has edited volumes such as “Para-Platforms: on the spatial politics of right-wing populism”, “The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict”, “Agonistic Assemblies, on the spatial politics of horizontality”, and, with Nikolaus Hirsch, is the co-editor of the book series “Critical Spatial Practice”. Since 2024, he is also a Dean’s Visiting Professor at Columbia GSAPP, NY.
studiomiessen.com
