Rethinking the architecture of power – exhibition
Rethinking the Architecture of Power
SYMPOSIUM + EXHIBITION
RIGA | LATVIA 05.11.2025
Architecture is used by political leaders to seduce, to impress, and to intimidate.
— Deyan Sudjic, The Edifice Complex: The Architecture of Power
Krakow, Riga, Warsaw, and Bucharest – four cities taking part in the unLoc project – share a history marked by totalitarian regimes that have shaped their architecture and continue to influence how we perceive them today.
The project focuses on buildings that may still be seen as symbols of power and control. Observing how their meanings have changed in the recent decades, we investigate and take part in this transformation. unLoc brings together science and art. We use linguistic and generative AI models to explore the possibilities, limitations, and ways in which humans and machines can collaborate in social design and artistic practice.
During a two-year research process, we examined examples of contested postwar architecture across the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. We invited artists and designers to re-examine the histories of these buildings, imagine their futures, experiment with their forms, and search for new meanings and functions.
The outcome is a collection of concepts, visual works, and projects – a reservoir of ideas that encourages reflection and dialogue on how the architecture of the former totalitarian states can be understood today, how we might talk about its future, and how its roles and perceptions can be redefined.
