Sips & Scholars: The Architecture of Red Vienna with Isi Litke

Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled "The Architecture of Red Vienna" will be led by Isi Litke. 

Between 1919 and 1934, Vienna undertook an ambitious experiment in municipal socialism, aiming to improve the lot of the city's burgeoning working class population through comprehensive reforms to labor law, welfare, education, public health, housing, and infrastructure. Perhaps the most enduring achievement of "Red Vienna," as this period has come to be known, was the construction of 400 Gemeindebauten: municipal housing blocks that combined low-cost workers' dwellings with communal facilities such as laundries, gardens, theaters, and kindergartens. This talk will explore the political and architectural ideas that shaped interwar Vienna's building program, and ask what lessons Red Vienna contains for contemporary debates over public housing and progressive municipal reform.

Food and refreshments will be available! Please RSVP in advance. 

Everyone is welcome! Come ready to learn and open to discuss interesting questions together. Advanced reading is not required, but we encourage you to check out the suggested booklist. 

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PARTICPANT

Isi Litke is a member of the core faculty at the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research. She teaches classes at the intersection of politics and aesthetics, with particular interests in architectural theory, twentieth century avant-gardes, critical theory, and film. Outside of teaching, she has worked closely with Valerie Goodman Gallery, where she co-curated Staging Future: The Architectural Visions of László Rajk. She holds an MA in Political Theory from Princeton University.

 

 

 

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About The Urbane Arts Club

The Urbane Arts Club is a thriving community of creatives in historic Ditmas Park. They are an events venue and coworking space, set in a Victorian home and former 1920s Speakeasy, as well as a home for musical performances, immersive theater, visual arts, literary readings, and more! Become a member of Brooklyn’s best kept secret, The Urbane Arts Club.

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About The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

The Brooklyn Institute for Social Researchis an interdisciplinary teaching and research institute that offers critical, community-based education in the humanities and social sciences. Working in partnership with local businesses and cultural organizations, we integrate rigorous but accessible scholarly study with the everyday lives of working adults and re-imagine scholarship for the 21st century.