Since 1976, the Bauhaus Colloquia has taken place at regular intervals, addressing hotly debated topics in architecture and urbanism and bringing together distinguished experts and upcoming scholars from around the world. The Colloqium is held in the city of Weimar, where the Bauhaus architectural school and movement were founded in 1919.
The theme of this year's event is 'Architecture in the Age of Empire', seeking to ask the question: 'Is it politics or technology that decide where architecture goes?
Ma Yansong will speak at The 11th International Bauhaus Colloquium in April 2009 in the German city of Weimar to address this year’s theme.
The Colloquium takes place against the backdrop of the current relationship between architecture and economic and political power. The event explores situations in which so-called 'starchitects' are commissioned to create progressive architecture in the most repressive regimes, while critics focus on the aesthetics of their designs, refusing to discuss the moral responsibility of the architect, or the very possibility of resistance to this economic and political power.