BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.6.1//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news5353@zasb.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260921T114122 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261127T161500 SUMMARY:Łukasz Stanek (University of Michigan): The Gift - Spaces of Globa l Socialism and Their Afterlives DESCRIPTION:The gifting of architecture during the Cold War was a spectacul ar means for socialist countries to manifest a new vision of international relations for the decolonizing world. Soviet\, Eastern European\, Chinese \, and Cuban institutions donated factories\, schools\, hospitals\, and ho using to newly independent states in Africa and Asia\, transforming cities and landscapes in Ethiopia\, Ghana\, Tanzania\, Mongolia\, Vietnam\, and elsewhere. This talk argues that the moral\, temporal\, and racial dynamic s of gift-giving conditioned the design\, construction\, and afterlives of these buildings. It debates how the generosity and violence specific to g ift exchange\, and the social bonds that it creates\, shaped and continue to shape everyday urbanism across Africa and Asia. Based on a recently pub lished edited volume\, this talk shows how the focus on architectural gift -giving offers an opportunity for a more differentiated genealogy of globa l urbanization and its architecture.\\r\\nŁukasz Stanek is Professor at A . Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning\, University o f Michigan\, Ann Arbor\, USA. Stanek authored Henri Lefebvre on Space: Arc hitecture\, Urban Research\, and the Production of Theory (University of M innesota Press\, 2011) and Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europ e\, West Africa\, and the Middle East in the Cold War (Princeton Universit y Press\, 2020). His most recent edited volume is The Gift: Spaces of Glo bal Socialism and Their Afterlives (Jovis Publishers\, 2026). Previously Stanek taught at the Swiss Federal University of Technology (ETH) in Zuric h (Switzerland)\, and the University of Manchester (UK)\, and he held gues t appointments at Harvard University (USA)\, and the University of Ghana a t Legon in Accra (Ghana). He curated several exhibitions\, including The G ift: Stories of Generosity and Violence in Architecture (Architekturmuseu m der TUM\, Munich\, 2024). Together with Michael Gameli Dziwornu\, he fou nded Office Southeast\, the urban research collaborative based in Accra\, Ghana. He is currently a NOMIS Senior Fellow (2026-27) at the Collegium Helveticum in Zurich\, Switzerland. X-ALT-DESC:

The gifting of architecture during the Cold War was a spectac ular means for socialist countries to manifest a new vision of internation al relations for the decolonizing world. Soviet\, Eastern European\, Chine se\, and Cuban institutions donated factories\, schools\, hospitals\, and housing to newly independent states in Africa and Asia\, transforming citi es and landscapes in Ethiopia\, Ghana\, Tanzania\, Mongolia\, Vietnam\, an d elsewhere. This talk argues that the moral\, temporal\, and racial dynam ics of gift-giving conditioned the design\, construction\, and afterlives of these buildings. It debates how the generosity and violence specific to gift exchange\, and the social bonds that it creates\, shaped and continu e to shape everyday urbanism across Africa and Asia. Based on a recently p ublished edited volume\, this talk shows how the focus on architectural gi ft-giving offers an opportunity for a more differentiated genealogy of glo bal urbanization and its architecture.

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Łukasz Stanek is Professor at A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban P lanning\, University of Michigan\, Ann Arbor\, USA. Stanek authored Hen ri Lefebvre on Space: Architecture\, Urban Research\, and the Production o f Theory (University of Minnesota Press\, 2011) and Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europe\, West Africa\, and the Middle East in t he Cold War (Princeton University Press\, 2020). His most recent edite d volume is \;The Gift: Spaces of Global Socialism and Their Afterl ives (Jovis Publishers\, 2026). \;Previously Stanek taught at the Swiss Federal University of Technology (ETH) in Zurich (Switzerland)\, and the University of Manchester (UK)\, and he held guest appointments at Har vard University (USA)\, and the University of Ghana at Legon in Accra (Gha na). He curated several exhibitions\, including The Gift: Stories of Ge nerosity and Violence in Architecture \;(Architekturmuseum der TUM \, Munich\, 2024). Together with Michael Gameli Dziwornu\, he founded Offi ce Southeast\, the urban research collaborative \;based in Accra\, Gha na. \;He is currently a NOMIS Senior Fellow (2026-27) at the Collegium Helveticum in Zurich\, Switzerland.

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