Art and Politics in Architectural Competitions

Abstract

This article analyses how architectural competitions serve as a context for architectural work embedded in broader strategies of urban development. The post-political mode of depoliticization has been argued to be important for contemporary practices in both urban theory and in architectural discourses. This article critically assesses how architects work within competitions and what potential lies in the process of challenging the post-political consensus. It uses a series of architectural competitions held within the Fjord City planning area in Oslo, Norway, as cases. Drawing from the work of Jacques Rancière, the article uses a framework for understanding political architecture that views aesthetics and politics as interconnected. The article argues that architecture can be political when this understanding is embraced and that architectural competitions, despite often leading to a depoliticized architecture, contain space for an architecture of dissensus.