Brigitte Sölch

Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck Institut; Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design

Struggle for democracy or culture of dominance? The agora in postwar architectural discourse

2018-2019: Spring

Brigitte Sölch is Professor of History and Theory of Architecture/Design History at Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design as well as Associate Member of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence - Max-Planck-Institute, where she served till 2018 as academic assistant and co-project leader of "Ethics and Architecture" and "Piazza e monumento". She is an art and architectural historian with a Habilitation (Humboldt University in Berlin) for the "forum" on architectural, aesthetic and sociopolitical ideas between the Renaissance and the present and an award-winning Dissertation on the beginning of public museums in Rome in the early 18th century. She published articles on the struggle for democracy, the piazza as western metaphor, the emotive impact of institutional architecture and the human body in architecture. As fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University NY in 2019 she will be studying "The Agora in Postwar Architectural Discourse". The focus of her research is on concepts and broader understanding of urban public space, politics and the history of ideas. Brigitte pursued her research interests by working in museums, universities, and international research institutes.