Hanoi Ad Hoc, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and the Goethe-Institut would like to invite you to participate in the Workshop "Repurposing the Architectural language of the Cold War" from September 5th to September 9th, 2023 in Hanoi.
The narrative of socialist housing as an artifact of the Cold War often mirrors the narrative of socialism’s rise and fall, a utopian dream overtaken by the realities of social failures, decay, and obsolescence. Yet across the “brother countries”, this architecture faces an apparent contradiction between its symbolism through the image of heroic, monolithic form, and its afterlife as inhabited and transformed by people over the past decades.
This workshop explores how adaptation and complexity become visible and manifest differently on an international, national and individual level, depending on the point of view. Invited speakers will offer public lectures about relevant subjects of research and artistic production. In parallel, participants will learn techniques of observation, drawing, and storytelling to uncover and document narratives of change sited today within socialist-era mass housing.
