Roemer van Toorn - Towards a practice of dissensus Abecedarium of theoretical reflections and projects

The concept of dissensus has been used by French philosopher Jaques Rancière to explain the process of political resistance that creates a fissure in the sensible order by confronting the established order of perception, thought and action, with the 'inadmissible'. The essence of politics thus resides in acts of subjectivization that separate society from itself by challenging the 'natural order of bodies' in the name of equality, polemically reconfiguring the distribution of the sensible. What are the implications, limits and possibilities for an architecture of dissensus where neoliberalism has become Deleuzian. Through an Abecedarium of theoretical reflections and a rereading of canonical projects an outline for a practice of dissensus will be developed.

Roemer van Toorn
is Theory and Media Professor at the Umeå School of Architecture, Sweden. From 1993 till 2010 he was in charge of the History and Theory program and was head of publications at the Berlage Institute. He was editor of several issues of Architecture in the Netherlands, as well as an advisor to the magazines Archis (Volume), Hunch, Domus and Abitare. As author and photographer he also contributes to many other publications. After graduating from the University of Technology Delft, Roemer van Toorn published The Invisible in Architecture (1994) in collaboration with Ole Bouman; in it he dissects the varied range of cultural, economic, political and philosophical outlooks within the contemporary architectural discourse with the aim of outlining the different positions and issues of today's architecture. Currently he is working on a publication entitled From Fresh Conservatism to Radical Democracy. Aesthetics as Form of Politics.